


A Flaw in the Code

by Emejig16



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Groping, Gun Violence, M/M, Smut, blood mention, implied eating out, implied sex, kissing/makeout, physical violence (fighting)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:07:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5036755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emejig16/pseuds/Emejig16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So money and power is what you seek? How much do you want it though; what are you willing to go through to seize it for yourself? Dan is the criminal mastermind behind the world’s largest and most powerful computer hacking company. All he sees are numbers and coding, however something else glints in his eyes. Over the course of his career he’s become very interested in a set of four special computer chips, and although he has three of them, his collection is not quite complete yet. Unfortunately, getting this fourth and final item is not something he can do on his own. So, he employs the help of former top MI6 Agent Phil Lester to aid him in his quest. Dan quickly learns that someone else has been scheming, and that having an elite partner is extremely advantageous in keeping ahead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Black Tulips

**Author's Note:**

> Author: chocolatesaucelester  
> Artist: @enbyphil  
> Beta: @noodlesvondoodles
> 
> A/N: This is officially the longest fic I have ever written. Shout out to my team for being cool and working on this monster of a project. It has always been my dream to write this fic that stemmed from the idea of a black tulip. This fic was partly inspired by Sawyer Hartman’s Welcome to Tokyo and primarily by the songs Uma Thurman and Bad Blood (there were many others). Thank you to anyone who actually reads this entire thing. It was fun writing it, but I’m glad to be done with it.

__

* * *

_Pristine white gloves picked up a deadly black tulip, placing it ever so gently on a diamond encrusted platter. Rumor has it that these genetically modified flowers were laced with the most potent poison science could fabricate. Of course, that was way beyond the knowledge of the person carrying this item. She was nothing more than one out of thousands of disposable workers, sworn to secrecy about the workings of this operation._

_Even as she crossed the labyrinth of the upper floors she realized just how little she knew of her job. She had never been up this high in the building; who knew what kind of work was done up here? It was deafeningly silent behind the faint clatter of keyboards and muffled phone conversations. Icy glares momentarily followed her direction before catching sight of the tulip and looking away quickly, knowing that real work would be coming to them._

_As the worker neared the large mahogany doors, she froze. This is the room number they’d sent her to, she just hadn’t realised that this was his office. On the lower floors he was only referred to as Sir Howell, and this very room was the place everyone dreamed, yet dreaded, of one day visiting. It either meant you were moving on up, or “your position is no longer needed”._

_She rang the buzzer on the side of the door before hearing it click open, allowing her access inside._

_Sir Howell looked outside his large top floor window. It was grey and rainy, as per usual for London weather. From up there he could see the whole city—every last building, shop, alleyway, road and street. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his light blue shirt and grey jacket neatly pressed, along with his grey trousers. His face was expressionless, not that he had much to be emotional about. That was the thing about his job, it forced him to conceal all emotions, but his attentive golden brown eyes always gave him away._

_He stepped away from the window and looked at his polished cherry wood desk. It didn’t really fit in with the whole modern styled office, but that was alright with him. It was a fairly large, plus he had a nice twenty-seven inch Mac in the left corner._

_After about three minutes of being well aware that someone was standing in his office, he finally looked up at the slightly trembling woman in front of him._

_“Please sit my dear,” Dan said with a calm, almost soothing voice._

_The woman walked up to his desk, placing the platter in front of him before taking a seat in one of the two red chairs that faced his desk._

_“You’ve brought me a present,” Dan commented with a charming smile. “And my, did you pick out a lovely one,” he continued, examining the delicate yet very important flower in front of him._

_“Sir, I’m not sure that is advisable,” the woman warned timidly._

_Dan gave a hearty laugh and shook his head a bit. “Don’t worry. This one isn’t poisoned, I can tell; you see the shade of black is a little off. It’s not too noticeable, but if this was a shirt and trousers, you’d notice. Also the interior is missing that slight hue of purple. But I’m impressed by the extent of your knowledge,” he mused as he set the tulip back down. “No, this one is going to someone special and well, to put it simply, I need him very alive.”_

_The worker nodded and stood as soon as Dan had excused her to go back to her work on the lower levels, completely unaware of what she’d just assisted._

-

 

Imagine being able to move millions, maybe be even billions of pounds, dollars, you name it, within the mere typing of an access code and a few clicks of a button. That was the kind of legacy Dan sat on top of. Numbers had always come easy to him; everything that seemed to be complicated and made with the sole purpose of security was nothing more than a set of cleverly put together numbers and symbols to form some of the most important codes in the world. And the day sixteen year old Dan realized this, life as he saw it changed forever.

With nothing more than his laptop, Dan got his start at age sixteen. It was small things at first like tinkering with the school website, playing around with programming and HTML coding, but it slowly built into getting into his parent’s accounts, altering transcripts and transportation systems. There was nothing that was truly safe when guarded by numbers, he was sure of that.

From the moment he started to break through firewalls and transfer data he knew he had the entire world at his fingertips. After a lot of learning, trial and error, interrogations, bloody noses and black eyes, close calls, and millions of pounds later, he was of one of the world’s largest “hackers”, or so the government would call people like himself, however Dan preferred the term “Cunning Number Crunchers”.

Over the last eight years he’d built his operation up from the ground. From the humble beginnings as an underground hacking group that mostly targeted blogs and popular websites, he slowly gained more power and received attention from other criminal groups with far too many leaky mouths which gave him all of the information he needed to get him to where he was today.

These days Dan had his eyes upon a new prize.

About four years ago, Dan caught word of four universal all access data chips scattered around the world. To put the complexity of these tiny pieces of technology simply, with all four of them, Dan controlled the world. Not a single computer or network operated process was safe. He would be able to open bank vaults in Hong Kong, manipulate Wall Street, even track certain shipments; as far as he was concerned the possibilities were endless.

After all, he’d built the entire La Fleur Noire company on only one chip and tripled the size under the second and third. So much progress in such little time, and the carelessness of greed was pushing Dan to pursue the fourth and final one for himself. Honestly, Dan wished to do no evil with the chips but rather use them to his advantage to ensure his success and maybe open up the possibility of contracts, treaties and other great security opportunities.

Dan chuckled as he examined his business card, adorned with the company logo: a simple black and white tulip. Many people have questioned why that particular flower and to be quite frank, Dan didn’t have a reason. There was just something about the delicacy and innocence of a tulip that clashed with the abysmal black. Black roses were too obvious and overbearing and trying to genetically engineer black lilies was never successful.

He set the card down and leaned back in desk chair as he ran his hand through his hair, _man was he in deep shit_.

When you start to get very successful people begin to take notice; sometimes it’s people you actually want to be in contact with but most of the time it’s those seeking your secrets and downfall.

Much to Dan’s regret he’d been a little less than tight lipped about everything he was doing and he was beginning to suspect that someone had infiltrated his company. Of course, he didn’t know for sure but he could feel it in the atmosphere of the building: shifty glances, increased “keeping to self attitude” and just the looming aura of disaster that rang throughout every bone in his body, telling him to keep one eye open at all times.

Although he had that threat to worry about he had other things he needed to concentrate on. If someone had in fact found their way in, chances are they know about the chips and are going to be doing everything in their power to either prevent him from getting to it or steal it first for themselves, and well that was a battle Dan would gladly walk right into the middle of.

Dan knew he was at risk and if he were to go in alone on his quest, he would surely end up dead; so he’d put his best man on the task of finding him an elite partner who was not afraid to get their hands dirty and get a bit scuffed up.

 

-

At 10:37 sharp Dan heard a knock on his door.

“You’re late.” Dan scolded as Tom walked into his office.

“Yeah I know, but I needed to make sure I had every last piece of evidence and information on this guy,” Tom replied, taking a seat.

Tom was Dan’s information and weapons dealer. He just had a way of being able to find out every last detail on a person, and did it discreetly and thoroughly. Honestly, if there was anything Dan needed, Tom was the guy who he went to. He was probably Dan’s most trusted person, but then again Dan never really trusted anyone, yet he knew he could take Tom’s word, if he was going to take anyone’s to start with. 

Tom had gotten the tip off that Dan was in need of a very elite partner who knew how to follow directions, yet act accordingly when those instructions weren’t going to work out.

“What do you have for me, and before you begin, may I remind you that I have nearly three and a half billion pounds and definite exposure on the line,” he added as an airy threat.

“He goes by the codename ‘Black Cat’. Former top MI6 agent otherwise known as a Philip Lester. He was their go to guy and by far the most skilled and dangerous person they could have ever trained. About two years ago, while on an undercover mission where he was intended to infiltrate some cartel, he went rogue,” Tom explained. 

Dan raised an eyebrow, “Rogue or double agent? I think I hear double agent.”

 “He tried to murder his partner and nearly succeeded.” 

“But he didn’t, therefore possible double agent. If he is as skilled as you claim he is, then he would not have missed his shot or mis-stabbed him, so it was never his intention to kill him, which suggests ulterior motives. Carry on.”

“Well, he’s been put on lockdown and hasn’t been sent on any new missions. I presume he’s under heavy surveillance, so it will be hard to get to him, but I’m sure he’s itching for action.”

“Don’t worry, MI6 and myself are very good friends. As soon as they see his little invitation, they’ll bring him right to me.”

 

-

It was four in the afternoon on a Wednesday and Phil sat staring at the scar where they’d implanted his stupid tracking chip. If only they’d heard him out and not overreacted he wouldn’t be in any of the mess he was in now. All he wanted to do was get back into the field. He wanted to feel the kick back of the gun, interact with dangerous people yet be sworn to secrecy. He didn’t want to be cooped up in his apartment or confined to the few other places he was allowed to go.

He’d never asked to be sent on that mission and as far as he was concerned he was just doing what needed to be done. Phil had been working with MI6 way too goddamn long to receive this kind of treatment, did they honestly think he was going kill his partner, god no. But of course, they didn’t want to hear it so the higher ups put him under house arrest and all he knew was he hated it. He wasn’t up to anything.

During the middle of his heightened annoyance, there was a knock at his door. It was probably just Anderson, a member of the MI6 security board, coming to check up on him again, as if he needed that. When Phil reached the door and opened it, no one was there except for a sleek black box in front of his door. He looked around before picking it up and setting it on one of the kitchen counters.

Upon letting his curiosity get the best of him, Phil lifted the top of the box, only to have the colour drained from his face. He couldn't believe his eyes; the black tulip that mocked him from inside of the box was enough to make him wish he had been killed on that mission. He had to call HQ immediately to do something with this. Everyone knew who had a thing for black tulips, and well Phil wasn't dumb enough to walk straight to his own death.  
  
He took a step back from the counter and noticed a small white envelope on the lid of the box. Phil pulled it off and opened it, surprised to have found a handwritten message:

  
  
_Dear Agent Lester,_   
  
_I want to start by saying, I’m impressed. Your work has caught my eye and well, I'm interested in meeting you to discuss some things. -SDH_

  
_P.S. The tulip is harmless, think of it as a gift. Bring it with you when you meet me at seven this evening at the top of the Rose Gardens._

 

Phil smirked to himself as he folded the message and slid it into his pocket. He must've been fiddling around with one of Sir Daniel Howell's cartels back in Colombia and instead of killing him for it, he liked the work he did. That was honestly the best compliment he'd ever received. Unfortunately, he was still going to have to alert HQ and maybe give them a scare so they'll take off his arrest and monitoring.  
  
Around six that evening, Phil decided he'd get himself ready for his little meeting. He dressed himself in black jeans, a short sleeve button up and a blazer; something not too formal but smart. He spent twenty minutes jamming the signal of his tracker so they couldn't track him going out of his boundaries for at least five hours. He knew there was no way his meeting was going to be that long, but it was for just incase. Once Phil had finished getting ready, he picked up the tulip and was on his way.   
  
When Phil arrived at the Rose Gardens, he walked straight in and up the stairs to the top floor without a single person turning their head or asking what he was doing. He was admittedly a little nervous as he neared the top balcony to the open night air and beautiful flowers that lined the whole upper floor. He wasn't the least bit surprised to notice that there was only one table in the midst of all the green, reds, yellows and pinks. He tipped his chin up a bit and took a deep breath before walking over to the table. There sat a man not much older than himself with brown hair and a gaze that meant business _._  
  
"Ah you must be Agent Lester," he said, extending his hand.   
  
Phil shook it and nodded,"Yes, but please call me Phil."  
  
"Do you have the tulip?" he asked.  
  
"Right here," Phil replied as he set the tulip down on the table. "I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude, but I thought I was meeting with Sir Howell?"  
  
The man chuckled, "Where are my manners? I'm Sir Howell. Please sit."  
  
Phil sat down, unsure of what to think. He'd kind of just assumed Sir Howell was very old, not an attractive man that looked way too young to be as powerful as he was.

"I'm very pleased to be meeting with you," Dan mused as he opened the bottle of wine that was sitting on the table and poured some into the two glasses.   
  
"Please, I should be the one who is feeling honored to be meeting with you,”  Phil responded with a grin.  
  
"Cute, but flattery gets you nowhere. Let's get to business. I hate talking over sticky matters when food is out so I'm going to keep this short.

"I'm requesting your assistance. You see, I have found myself in a bit of a compromising situation. There are some things I'm after, a lot of people I need out of the way, and a couple of key items that I need to get my hands on that, well to be quite honest, I'm not qualified to successfully retrieve without a partner. To put it simply, I need you to do my dirty work while I focus on getting these items.”

Phil nodded, "What kind of dirty work?"

"I'd prefer it if you didn't murder anyone. I will need you to do anything from breaking into facilities, getting information out of people of interest and probably a lot more. Nothing that you're not already familiar with."

"Alright I'll be your partner, but on one condition, if you're willing to negotiate."

"What?" Dan replied, biting his tongue.

"I don't like secrets. I want to know everything you're going to be doing and wherever you go, I go. Say you're going to LA, I'm going with you. If we're a team, you better treat me as your colleague and not your guard dog. I also demand full access to your office."

As much as Dan wanted to reject, he knew he could not afford to do that. If he had even the slightest chance of getting his hands on that computer chip, while clearing his name, he was going to need Phil by his side.

"Deal," Dan said, extending his hand.

"You don't want to agree," Phil commented, looking at Dan's outstretched hand. "You don't trust me," he said with a cold glare.   
Dan sat back in his chair and took a sip of his wine. It seemed as though Phil was even sharper than he'd suspected. He was going to be perfect. "What happened in Colombia?" he asked.

"Is that what you want to know? Not my sign, I'm an Aquarius by the way, or my favorite colour? It's purple, but okay I'll give you what you want; nearly a ton of pure virgin Colombian cocaine happened."

"That doesn't explain why you attacked your partner," Dan replied, setting his glass down.

  
"Do you know how addictive cocaine is? Undercover mission or not, if you're dumb enough to actually do that stuff it messes with you. Next thing you know you're supporting the rival cartel, threatening to expose us both while causing the coke to end up in even worse hands than it would have gone to. Now wouldn't you pull a gun on a threat like that? I didn't want to kill him, heavens no, that's treason in MI6; I just needed to wound him enough to not do anything stupid while I shut it down and grabbed a bit of a profit for myself," Phil explained with a wicked grin.  
  
Dan smirked in response and chuckled, "Double agent."  
  
"Not exactly, but once I start working for you I will be. Double agent huh? I like that title, it sounds...better. Better than most powerful and least trusted charmer in all of MI6,” he mused.

  
"Charmer eh? I'm sorry but you're lacking a bit there in my opinion."  
  
"You just haven't seen my work, Sir."  
  
"We're past titles like that," Dan said as he poured Phil more wine. "We are partners now. Please, call me Dan."

"Unprofessional but I like things more when they're not conventional.”

Dan scoffed, "I like you already. I think we will make a good team."

“I just need one favor from you if this is going to work,” Phil said uneasily. “Since you seem to already know the dirt on me, I’m going to need a solid threat that would push them to let me be your partner without surveillance. You know, give em’ a scare, so that when I lie about what we’ve discussed here, they’d be cornered and have no choice but to let me go.”

Dan smirked, “Don’t worry about that. I’ve already got it covered.”

 

-

  
By the time Dan and Phil parted ways it was ten at night. Phil still couldn't believe he was going to be working with Dan. He was extremely powerful, rich, and had more than a thousand men at his disposal yet he handpicked him to be his partner. However, that wasn't the real surprise of the night, no that came when he got back to his flat. For starters, he wasn't allowed inside as MI6 had completely quarantined his place. He was afraid that they'd realized he has gotten away, but no they were focused on a new pressing issue.  
  
"Hey Anderson what's going on? Why won't they let me into my flat?" Phil asked with great confusion.  
  
"Agent Lester? Oh thank god you weren’t in there," Anderson said with an exasperated breath.  
  
"What's wrong with my flat?" Phil asked, trying not to let the panic rise from his throat.  
  
"I think you should see for yourself." Anderson said solemnly as he pushed through the many people who were searching and in charge of cleanup until Phil approached his open door.  
  
Hundreds of black tulips had been dumped all over his flat. They were everywhere. Phil's mouth hung open, more with amazement than shock. He wanted to smile and just shake his head, but he knew that was not the appropriate reaction. He supposed Dan knew what he meant when he said he “had it covered”.  
  
"A-are those tulips?" Phil asked with fake disbelief.  
  
"Yeah," Anderson said, patting Phil's shoulder. "You know who loves black tulips, right?"  
  
Phil nodded and swallowed thickly.  
  
"Well, so far none of them have been poisonous, but there was a message dropped among the flowers, which has been taken to headquarters already. We're not sure what he wants, aside from you, but I'm supposed to be taking you down to HQ right now."  
  
"Okay. Let's go, I need this sorted." Phil said, putting on his agent exterior.  
  
During the short ride back to headquarters all Phil wanted to do was laugh because this was perfect. MI6 was scared shitless. As Phil was escorted into the head office and told to take a seat, it seemed as though everyone was sure he was going to die; it was great.  
  
"Agent Lester, it's very good to see you again," Jasmine, head of all MI6 operations, greeted with a sad smile.  
  
"Nice to see you too," Phil replied.  
  
"Right, there's no easy way to say this but, it appears we may have put you in a little trouble with Sir Howell when we sent you guys to Colombia. I'm sure you've heard the name before?"  
  
"Extremely powerful, rich, dangerous hacker that somehow has all of London and probably many more areas under his fingers. Yes, I'm familiar with him."  
  
"Yes, well in some of the stuff that went down we may have stepped into his boundaries and he's not pleased. To make a lot of speculation short, when Charles got mixed up in that other gang and you tried to take him out, our paths and Howell's paths crossed and you fall somewhere in the middle of all of that. Point is, he's made the deal that he won't kill you if we give you to him. We're not sure what he needs or wants you for but he's requesting you," she explained carefully.  
  
Phil nodded slowly, "So you're telling me in order to not die I have to go and work for a criminal?"   
  
"Yes."  
  
"Doesn't seem like I have many options here now do I?" Phil said with a light chuckle.  
  
"No. I mean unless you're ready to die you only have one."  
  
"What happens to me here if I accept?"  
  
"We're not sure. He's also requesting we break all ties with you. That means all surveillance and missions will be gone–no more being a MI6 agent."  
  
Phil bit his lip, "I mean death–"  
  
"Phil you have to accept. It's not worth it. We trust you to make good decisions and do what you need to in order to stay alive."  
  
"Alright," Phil agreed with a heavy breath. "Tell him we accept his terms." **  
**


	2. Acquainted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and Phil get down to business. Dan doesn’t have any time to waste and Phil needs to be brought up to speed on what’s going on ASAP.

Dan couldn't help but smile triumphantly when he arrived at his office the next Monday morning. Everything seemed to be falling right into place. Phil was supposed to be here at eleven o'clock sharp, and Dan had finally secured real leads on where he needed to start his search. It seemed like everything was going to be smooth sailing from here on out, but there was something still inexplicably off about his surroundings. He felt like he was being watched, but whoever it was, was watching just his profile and feet but not his back or his front where he could see them.

There was a knock at his door, and he closed the information he was looking at on his computer screen. "Sir Howell, your tea." a rather tall woman he did not recognise said placing the tray of coffee and biscuits down, before bowing and leaving his room.

He picked up the mug and took a sip. Dan knew almost everyone who was in direct contact with but why couldn't he put a name to her? As far as he could tell the tea tasted fine but he didn't dare mess with the biscuits. He was smarter than that, or was he just being paranoid? No, he was being cautious.

While Dan waited for Phil to arrive, he unlocked the left drawer of his desk, pulled out the fake bottom, before unhinging a secret compartment on the side, revealing the three glowing cards. They were no larger than a standard eight gigabyte SD card but much more powerful. It then occurred to him he hadn't explained what the mission was all about to Phil. Truth be told, he hadn’t planned on telling Phil more than what he was supposed to do for any given task, but as he continued to plan out his moves, acquire targets of interest, and noticed his window of time was slipping he concluded he should.

"Agent Lester," Dan greeted not looking away from the typing he was doing when he heard his door squeak open.

"Please, I thought we were on first name terms Dan, and in not an agent anymore." Phil said as he walked over to his desk and sat down at one of the leather chairs.

"Well if you really miss your old job, we could fake your death."

"Shut up, that doesn’t even make sense. How did you know it was me?"

"Cause you are the only one who can walk I here without an email, message, knock-nothing. It should never be anyone but you.”

"Sounds dangerous."

"I'm not worried," Dan said with a huff, causing Phil to raise a brow. “What was that look? I have nothing to be worried about, and you shouldn’t be doubting me this early out–”

“Relax flower boy, I just thought that was a bit interesting that’s all.” Phil said, cutting him off. “I don’t even know what you want me to do or what you’re doing at all, so where do I even have room to question your actions?”

Dan fell silent and took a sip of his tea. Phil was right; it was far too early for him to already be getting worked up over events that had yet to occur. The planning of how he was going to go about this needed to be perfect, and completely doubt free.

“You’re right, my mistake,” Dan replied, setting down his mug.

“Right, so are we going to talk business or what?” Phil asked, leaning back in his chair, ready for whatever Dan was about to throw at him.

“Straight to the point–I love it.” Dan mused. He set the three computer chips he’d already acquired on his desk in front of Phil. One was black, the other neon green, and the last neon orange. “Do you know what these are?” he asked.

“I suppose they look like SD cards Just by glancing at them I want to say the storage space must be massive, but they’re no different than anything you’d put in a camera or something,”

“But they are extremely different from anything you’d put in a camera or anything that requires an SD card. In fact these three items are computer chips, and they are extremely valuable,” Dan corrected. He picked up the orange one and held it between his thumb and index finger. “These little chips contain universal access codes.”

“Access codes? As in codes for computer hacking?” Phil asked.

“Computers are a possible medium; they do much more than hack computers–they hack systems.”

“How is that any different from a computer?” Phil questioned sitting up.

“Because not all electronically operated items are computers but they all require some sort of system to be set up so that the function properly. This card is able to give me full access to those systems. Even the most heavily firewalled system can be taken down by just one of these yet when these three are put together I can only do almost anything I want.”

“Almost?”

“Yes, almost. You see there’s one last chip floating around somewhere in this world, and I want it to complete my collection. With all four there’s no electronic system that I can’t control. I don’t even need to worry about the groundwork and people that stand in my way. I’m sure you know I am very good when it comes to negotiating.” Dan said with a chuckle.

“I suppose,” Phil conceded. “Okay, but where do I come into all of this?”

“Well you see, I’m not good at keeping secrets. People know I have been quite... busy. I have been up to a lot on the scene and I think someone is on my trail, and possibly already started their infiltration of my operation. Of course this is all speculation, but it’s a strong feeling. I’m afraid I will not be able to get my last chip without getting killed or captured without someone working with me.”

“Yeah, you briefly mentioned that during our first meeting. That doesn’t explain why you need me?”

Dan sighed and rolled his eyes, not wanting to admit what he had really pushed him seek a partner, “I need your protection.”

“I’m sorry what?” Phil scoffed. “The ruthless Sir Daniel Howell needs protection? Now that is incredible!”

“Would you like a biscuit Phil?” Dan said pushing the platter towards him. He watched as Phil reached for one before smelling it, breaking it in half, and setting it back down.

“They’re laced with something,” Phil replied. “Not lethal, but something to serve as a warning.”

“I know.” Dan replied as a matter of factly.

“So, protection huh?”

“Not just that, but pretty much all of the front line work while I do more of the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff.”

“Sounds fair. Where do we start?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m thinking not too far from here. However, we need to go see Tom first,” Dan said standing up from his desk. He dumped the platter of biscuits into the trash.

“Tom?”

“Tom is my information and weapons dealer; he is my most trusted man. I’m sure you’ll like him; you two seem like the type that would get along with each other.”

“If you say so.”

-

After leaving his office, Dan led Phil down to Tom’s office. For the sake of security and secrecy, he worked far underground, past the known basement of the high-rise of the building. They had to take three different lifts to get down there, and even then it was still guarded behind many doors, DNA scans, and voice and eye recognition systems.

Quite frankly, Phil didn’t think he’d seen anything like this. He’d dealt with many criminals in the past, but none of them structured their bases like this. This was similar to the work of someone with a background in secret service. What surprised him more was when they finally reached Tom’s office, it only stood behind a simple wooden door.

“Is this the place?” Phil asked, still taking in the extensive route they’d just completed.

“Yep,” Dan replied. He knocked once on the door before pushing it open.

Tom’s office was a lot different than Dan’s. For starters, it was far underground as opposed to his which was on the top floor. What was more surprising was that it actually stayed true to its modern style: adorned with black and white furniture, glass fixtures, and his precious walls of cased in weapons that lined the entire office.

"Sir Howell," Tom teased, walking over to Dan.

"Shut up Tom.” Dan replied. “Tom, Phil... Phil, Tom" Dan said, gesturing to Phil.

"Nice to finally meet you Agent Lester." Tom said extending his hand to Phil.

“No more agent,” Phil corrected as he shook his hand.  As far as he could tell, Tom was a lot older than Dan, but not any more than thirty five. He had light brown hair, green eyes and was in need of a shave, unless he was trying to grow a beard for a new look. He had impeccable posture and something oddly threatening in his eyes and smile. Yet, there was something about the way he held himself that seemed vaguely familiar to Phil.

“Seriously?” Tom said turning to Dan.

Dan shrugged, “I needed him to myself.”

"Right, so I have a lot of new tech for you guys." Tom said. “Let’s start with these earrings for you Dan. They can pick up radio signals and transmit them. All you have to do is rotate the inner circle counter clockwise, and it will transmit a distress signal."

"Okay. What else do you have?" Dan asked, eyes scanning over all of the items on display.

"I also have two iPhones. One for each of you. I know you guys have phones, but these have secure lines to make sure no one can tap in. Also these have no connections with the company so it cannot be traced back here. These are for people you may meet and need to be in contact with. You guys need to turn off and hand me your personal phones before you guys leave." Tom said handing each of them a phone.

"Now, I know a thing or two about you Phil. Yes, I am the one looked up your file and I know everything there is to know about you," Tom rambled, “but, focusing on what I was saying, I have something that’s right up your field." He walked over to a drawer and pulled something out. “Ah here they are! They’re cufflinks. You see, they’re magnetic and contain a small amount of explosive. Say you were to attach this to a safe door or a lock of some sort, it would blow it off allowing you access."

"It seems you really have done your research. How do you activate them?" Phil asked as he  looked at them.

"By code; The code is two slow presses, one slow one held down followed, by  two quick pulses. There will be about five seconds before it goes off."

"Moving on. Now, this is specially made for you Dan." Tom said, his voice drenched in sarcasm, “it’s a bottle of lube."

"The hell it is," Dan retorted.

"Yes. It works as a typical one on skin, but as soon as it comes into contact with metal it is extremely reactive. It can burn through just about anything." Tom said. “Better keep it away from the handcuffs Dan," Tom said with a wink.

"Why the fuck would I need a bottle of lube that can burn through any metal?" Dan protested.

"Shut up Howell. I think we all know why you’d need some." Tom said gesturing to a completely oblivious Phil, who was busy erasing all the contents off his personal phone.

"How would you like to die Tom?”

“I think he’s your type?”

“Let’s see there’s the option to snipe you out, poison you to death, oh I kind of like the sound of drowning…” Dan listed.

"It was a joke. Now, calm your shit, Howell. Like you’d ever have me killed,” Tom scoffed.  "You must be really cooperative to want to work with this asshole," Tom teased turning to Phil.

"Well–" Phil started.

"Watch it Lester." Dan reprimanded.

"Right, moving on to the last item." Tom produced to small guns; one was black and the other was purple. “These are electric ray guns, not to be mistaken for real guns or laser guns. They are far less dangerous than real guns, but are capable of the same amount of damage. They mostly disrupt electrical pulses. Meaning you can damage electrical items, but you can also kill someone with it. Try not to though."

"Interesting. I’ve never seen anything like it." Phil said obviously intrigued. "I like these." he added as he held the purple one in his hand and aimed at Tom’s computer, his finger flirting with the trigger button.

“Easy there,” Tom said nervously, bringing down Phil’s aimed arm.

"Alright, If he says they’re good, they must be good." Dan commented.

"Yeah okay," Tom said turning to gather up all the aforementioned items. He was having a pretty hard time believing that Dan was this open to a partnership. “Let me just give you your items and then you can be on your way.

“I just have one question,’ Phil started. “Why does a criminal need secret weapons?”

“Because unlike everything else I’ve stolen, this thing is not in plain sight. I have to get information from people in order to pinpoint a location,”

“So you’re going to do this like an agent would?”

“You could say that…” Dan responded quietly as he circled around Tom’s office.

“Is that why you’re most trusted man is a former MI6 agent?” Phil questioned. “Maybe used to go by the code name “The Silencer”?

“Great to finally see you after your training,” Tom said patting Phil’s shoulder.

“How did you figure that out so quickly?” Dan asked.

“This entire room and the walk down here just screamed “designed by an agent”, and aside from being older, I recognized Tom. Oh and I don’t know maybe the stolen and improved tech from MI6 was a big tip off. But mostly, he was my mentor; you never forget your mentor.” Phil explained.

“Especially when your student insists on making a mockery of your skills in front of the entire class,” Tom retorted.

“I sense tension,” Dan commented, eyes shifting between the two men.

“There’s none.” Phil fired back.

“I knew you’d make a good agent, and by good I mean completely reckless.”

Phil grinned, “Thank you.”

Tom sighed, “Good luck Dan. As of right now, I have nothing more on to show you. I’ll let you know as soon as I have more for information you to work with.”

-

Ater standing in the lift with Dan for a good ten minutes after he’d pressed the buttons to stop on every floor he wasn’t sure what to really think of Dan. Throughout the entire ride he stood with his back against one of the walls, arms crossed, concentrated on whatever the hell it was he thinking of.

He’d simply just followed Dan out of the lift and around the building, to a door a little bit further down from the office he’d initially met Dan in. Dan opened the door, revealing what seemed to have been just a computer in an abandoned office, and sat down at it. Phil wandered around the room with various holes filled with neon lights in the walls, looking at the loose pieces of paper plastered all over the room. Honestly, the office space looked more like some sort of a pathetic nightclub than a place where work is done.

“Don’t touch that.” Dan ordered, focused on the typing he was doing at his computer. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Phil observing the pieces of paper, and already knew that Phil must have been very confused as to what all of those numbers and symbols meant. “They're access codes arranged by function and degree of difficulty.” he explained.

“Oh.” Phil replied, suddenly overwhelmed by just how many different patterns there were. “And you have all of these memorized?” Phil questioned with disbelief as he circled the windowless room.

“Not all of them, just the important ones,”

“Huh?”

“For example, kill codes and fortifying codes,” Dan stated simply.

“What?”

Dan sighed, “Kill codes are the codes that you would use to take down any form of a security firewall, and fortifying codes are the codes you would use to put up a security firewall. They are the easiest to learn to use and that’s what I’m going to teach you how to do first.”

“Wait, I have to learn how to do this stuff? I thought you were going to handle all of the computer stuff?” Phil asked, strolling back over to Dan.

“I am, but this will put you at an advantage. Say you find a computer I can’t get to, you can get info out by yourself. Now, sit your ass down and put on your thinking cap,” Dan said, standing up from the computer and stepping to the side.

Phil gave Dan an uneasy glance as he sat down and looked at the computer screen. The screen displayed the stereotypical black with bright green numbers screen typically associated with hacking. “Do I really have to? I mean–”

“Shut up.” Dan interrupted. “Now listen to me; Only zombie zebras on zapping stars strike opaque shores.”

“What?”

“Type it into the computer.” Dan said crossing his arms.

“But there are only–Oh,” Phil said getting it. “one zero zero one zero star star one star.” he said back as he typed in those characters.

“And like that you’ve learned the easy kill code in the book. Every other kill code starts with this base. This base is never given, so commit it to memory. You’ll never believe how many big companies have such easy firewalls with this base; this makes it so easy,” Dan said with a chuckle.

“Easy for you to say, you’ve been doing this since high school,”

“True,” Dan said placing his hand on Phil’s shoulder. “But you’re incredibly smart and sharp so you’ll get this down like that.” he said with the snap of his fingers.

Phil chuckled, “I guess I will,” he said as he continued to type the numbers over and over, committing them to memory.

“Yeah but not now. Are you hungry? I’m hungry, let’s get lunch.” Dan said patting Phil’s shoulder.

-

Phil supposed there was a lot to learn about a person just from the food they ordered and the way they ate, or maybe he’d just been trained to believe that. Either way, he was fairly certain it was a little after one in the afternoon–way too early to start drinking in his books.

“I never would have guessed that you would be a day drinker,” Phil commented as he ate a chip.

“There’s Baileys in my tea nearly every morning except on Monday’s and Friday’s. Plus, it’s just a Piña Colada, how trashed can I get on one of those?” Dan commented as he took a sip of his drink.

“You’ve had two,” Phil teased. Dan was definitely the twenty-four year old everyone who didn’t know his real identity suspected him to be.

“Are you calling me a lightweight Lester?”

“No, because I’m not interested in getting drunk at one pm,” Phil retorted, sticking his straw in Dan’s drink and taking a sip.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come’on, I think I know how you like to do things.  You’d insist that we both drink and see who quits first, or at least I think that would happen,” Phil mused.

“Well, you’re extremely right.” Dan agreed, stealing one of Phil’s chips.

Phil raised an eyebrow, “I have a question for you Dan,”

“Shoot,”

“What’s the likelihood that I die working this mission?”

“For a person of your caliber, highly unlikely. I’m not worried, are you worried? There’s absolutely nothing to be worried about, nope not a thing.” Dan rambled, taking a sip of his drink.

“Right,” Phil replied skeptically.

“Anyways, I suppose we should be heading back,” Dan said, checking his phone, noticing a new message from Tom:

**Tom:**

**You’re going to love this**

**Stop by ASAP**

Dan smirked to himself, this should be good.

-

After lunch it was back to Tom’s office. Dan would have been lying if he didn’t say that he wasn’t the least bit excited. The jewel he’d been dreaming about would finally be his, and his crown of computing power would be complete. He could feel his fingertips tingling with anticipation, as he pretty much power walked back.

When they arrived once again outside the doors of Tom’s office Dan stopped the two of them.

“Hey Phil what’s the time?” Dan asked.

Phil checked the time on his Phone. It was two fifteen, “Uh, quarter past two?”

Dan took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Is that you, my son?” Tom called from the other side of the door.

“Fuck off,” Dan answered as Phil opened the door. He walked inside and sat down the couch, while Phil stood awkwardly in the corner.

“You going to sit or what?” Dan asked. Phil shrugged and sat next to Dan before turning his attention to Tom.

Tom smiled, “So how do we all feel about croissants?”

"What?” Phil questioned.

“Maybe baguettes, red wine I think? Foie-gag or whatever it’s called,” Tom deadpanned.

“French? Is it in French hands?” Dan interrogated with increasing excitement.

“I don’t know for sure, but the chip is in transit for sure,” Tom said, projecting the map that was tracking the chip moving across the Atlantic ocean. “ Honestly, even if you could get to it, you wouldn’t be able to reach it because it’s being guarded. By who–I have no clue, but you’re going to need codes to get codes. Stupid right?”

“So where’s my frist move?” Dan questioned with frustration.

“Paris,”

“Paris?” both Dan and Phil replied simultaneously.

"Yeah, I know." Tom said with a hint of annoyance. "Why couldn’t it be going to somewhere nice like the Bahamas or Jamaica?"

"Tom..." Dan warned.

“But yes. I’m one hundred percent certain the person who has your first set of codes, is going to be in attendance at this gala for a big software company. Who it is specifically I do not know, but whoever they are they are a VIP guest and presumably already in a power of position,” Tom explained.

“Makes sense. We’re going to have to profile quickly to get through an entire VIP section,” Phil commented. “Any persons of interest?”

“God I love him, so sharp. Do you love him yet Dan?” Tom gushed, proud of the work he did recruiting Phil.

"Ah, I don’t hate him yet,” Dan replied playfully.

Tom gave a slight nod. “As of now, no. But if any of that changes I will let you guys know immediately.”

“So, when do we leave?” Dan asked with a grin.

“Train leaves at 2:15, and you will be staying at the Sofitel Paris le Faubourg where the gala is taking place,” Tom said handing each of them their train tickets. “Uh it’s a gala so it’s Black tie but that should have been obvious. Phil if you do not have black tie how the hell were you ever an agent, so you cannot pull that lie on me.”

“I never said I didn’t have black tie,” Phil mumbled.

“I know, I just like messing with you kid.”

Dan twiddled his fingers as Tom walked back over to his desk and pulled out a black folder and handed it to him.

“You cannot lose this.” Tom said. He didn’t explain anything else, but it seems as though there was some sort of a silent communication of what the contents of this folder held between the two of them were.

"Planning something?" Phil asked, eye shifting between the two of them.

“More like agreeing on something,” Dan said vaguely, intentionally failing to explain what he meant.

“Don’t worry about it Phil,” Tom said quietly. “Anyways, that’s all I have for today. Feel free to run along kids.”

Dan rolled his eyes, “Operation Golden is go."  Dan said waving the folder as he made his way out of Tom’s office.

"Alright then!” Phil exclaimed as he followed.

"Au revoir boys.” Tom sing-songed, with a wave.

 


	3. Leads

The dull rumble of the train chugging along the tracks filled Dan’s ears. In the background he could hear the faint chatter of the passengers. He opened his eyes slowly to the harsh fluorescent lighting of the cabin. He looked to his left where Phil was sitting next to him, busy memorizing important codes. Dan hadn’t been asleep, he’d just closed his eyes to steady his brain from looking at the blue walls zipping past him. He found it amusing to think about how they were literally riding through the English channel.

He grinned to himself as he heard Phil let out a sigh of frustration before aggressively tapping the backspace button. “You’ll get it,” Dan said with an amused giggle.

“This is so complicated.” Phil whined.

“You just need to relax. Close your eyes and listen to the train,” Dan mused closing his eyes again.

“How are you so calm right now?” Phil asked. “You’re going to a dinner party with no leads, in pursuit of an item that is moving all around the globe.”

Dan shrugged, “The chip will find its way to me. And the person with the codes will do the same. I have no need to worry just yet.”

“Fair enough.” Phil said, accepting Dan’s answer. He glanced over at Dan again when he’d turned away from him to look out of the window. He’d placed his left hand on the side of his face and it looked like he was mumbling something to himself–no reciting something back to himself. Phil decided it wasn’t his place to question it, so he went back to his coding practice.

When the train was finally pulling into the station in Paris, the two of them couldn’t be happier that their two and a half hour journey was over. It wasn’t that the ride wasn’t pleasurable, it was just something along the way to the real work of the day and specifically evening. The anticipation of what the night could possibly hold was starting to build and the sooner they could got to the dinner the better.

-

Dressed in an all black tuxedo and a bow tie knotted way to tight, Dan towered over most of tonight's dinner guests as he swiftly made his way around cocktail hour, leaving Phil on his own. Why Dan had chosen to abandon him and told him to just post up near a wall and pretend to be interested in the decor of the ballroom while he did his work, he’d never know. Of course Phil had just nodded and accepted the orders but now, he had a drink in his hand and enough anger to crush the glass in his palm.

He took a sip as his eyes scanned over the entire party. Last time he checked this wasn’t the plan. Back in the hotel Dan had told him that they were supposed to stick together, and that they were supposed to be business partners: you don’t do work without your partner. Phil scoffed to himself as he watched Dan work, shaking hands and giving everyone his signature warm grin. He saw as Dan leaned into some guy with silver curly hair and shaved sides. Didn’t seem like the kind of person to be at an event like this, but he supposed appearances were often deceiving. He wanted to know what he was whispering in his ear that was making that guy smile like that.

“Not a fan of dinner parties?” a voice far too sultry for the start of the night said to him.

“They’re okay I guess,” Phil replied as he turned his head to look at the person standing next to him. She was a tall black lady with dark curly hair with a bleached strip in the front that ended just at her shoulders, and eyes that were far too inviting. She was wearing a long dark purple cap sleeved dress with beaded accents covering the expanse of the fabric.The curved V-neckline and slit down the front of the dress only further showed off her beautiful skin. “Oh, where are my manners?” he added sarcastically as he set his drink down, taking her hand and kissing it softly.

The lady giggled, “My what the gentleman you are,” she replied in the same tone making Phil giggle himself. “What’s your name darling? I’m Celeste” she asked. Phil took note that she didn’t have a French accent, and if he didn’t know any better, he would’ve said she sounded slightly American.

“Phil, and may I add you look absolutely stunning.” Phil replied with a charming smile.

“Is that you or the alcohol talking?” Celeste teased.

“Please, it’s too early in the night for anyone to be drunk already,”

“You’d be surprised,” she retorted as her rouge lips closed around the little black straw in her drink. “What company are you here with?”

“I’m with the Fleur de Noire Company. I mostly do networking,” Phil said like he’d rehearsed.

Celeste raised an eyebrow,” Fleur as in Sir Howell’s Fleur Noire?”

“Yes, have you met him?” Phil asked, becoming slightly nervous when he couldn’t figure out her tone. Was it amusement, surprise or something else he was failing to detect?

"You're partners with Dan? I didn't think he worked with anyone," Celeste commented with a laugh.

"Well as you can see I'm pretty much on my own right now." Phil joked back.

"But to answer your question, yes I have met him. I'd really like to say hello to him too, if you'd be willing to take me to him," Celeste proposed.

"Sure, I think I see him over there." Phil weaved his way in and out of the mass of black gloves, glasses of red wine, facetious smiles, and forced laughs. He really disliked dinner parties, or maybe it had to do with the people that attended them. To him, it always seemed like someone was after something whether it be a merger, a meeting, partnership–anything really at these types of events. That's why Dan fit in so well, yet he was having a hard time trying to mesh.

“Oh and just on cue here he is,” Dan said with a grin as Phil walked up to him with Celeste attached to his side. She’d rested her hands on Phil’s bicep, just quietly eyeing Dan and waiting for the guy Dan was with to acknowledge her.

“You must be Phil,” the guy with the silver hair said with a smile. “The name is Addison Zina.” he greeted.

“Nice to meet you,” Phil replied with a slight grin in his direction.

“Celeste.” Dan said with a nod in her direction.

“Oh Dan you're embarrassing me. Please don't make a scene," she deadpanned back. "I just wanted to say hello, and let you know that your business partner is absolutely amazing." Celeste added squeezing Phil's arm.

"Fantastic." Dan replied, throwing Phil a glance. It was only a quick shift of the eyes, but Phil had heard him clearly, "Keep her happy but stay alert".

"He's a lot nicer than you are," Celeste added before dragging Phil away from the two of them and into the ballroom where they were going to be eating.

Addison turned to Dan once Celeste and Phil were out of sight. Dan's countenance had fallen and he did not look the slightest bit pleased.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that Celia Haute?" Addison questioned.

"Yeah, that's her." Dan replied. He thought of her brief description that was in the black folder Tom had given him: _"Celia Haute would prefer to be known as Celeste. Twenty-five, spoiled brat. Father is Sage Haute. CEO of the Em3rald Company. Currently works for Mason Steels at the Burst Network headquarters as a secretary. Not dangerous but a pain in the ass. Has connections like no other, keep pleased."_

-

To no one's surprise, Dan and Phil ended up at two different tables at dinner. Celeste had insisted that Phil stay right by her side and as far away from Dan and Addison as possible. Phil didn't exactly mind though. It was nice sitting next to her, she had a beautiful laugh and smile, and seemed to know everyone that was in attendance. She would tug as his collar, pulling his ear closer to her mouth, and start "see that person over there? So-in so is this and hates this or loves that."

How she had so much dirt on everyone it probably should have been a huge red flag to Phil that this was a person of interest. However, the delicate hand she had placed on his thigh squeezing it every now and then was, incredibly distracting. He was trying to keep track of everyone and at the same time he was being devoured by her perfume. It was so strong and sweet–absolutely mystifying. Then again that may have been the wine talking. Dinner was great. He'd devoured a wonderful steak and listened to several people who he could give two shits about speak.

“Has anyone ever told you how gorgeous your eyes are?" Celeste commented.

“You wouldn’t be the first,” Phil replied blushing a bit.

“That’s not how flirting works.” Celeste said with a giggle.

“Oh is that what this is?” Phil questioned playfully, eying as Celeste slid her hand further up his thigh.

“Don’t be so coy,” she retorted, pursing her lips a bit.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of modesty…” Phil replied.

By the time dessert was being served, Celeste was practically in Phil’s lap. She’d made it more than clear to Phil that she wanted him for the night. If anything, she was waiting for the perfect moment to slip away with him and get what she been wanted since she first got a good look of Phil. She’d excused herself to go use the toilet, and Phil followed because that’s what they’d agreed on.

"We should get out of here," Celeste proposed, taking one end of Phil's bow tie, before pulling it loose.

“That’s an offer I cannot refuse,” Phil said with a giggle as Celeste slid her hand into his back pocket.

“Oh, would you look at that! You have a key to a room too.” she said in a flirty tone as she dangled the room key in front of his face.

“And look, the lifts to the eighteenth floor are right over there,” Phil continued, taking her hand as she led them in the direction of the lift.

Once they were alone in the lift she scooted closer to Phil. “Je veux t’embrasser,” Celeste mumbled, as she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him further into her red lipstick and steamy touch. Quite frankly, Phil had no clue what the fuck he thought he was supposed to be doing anymore, his hands were around her waist, fumbling their way down to her bum. He could almost hear Dan yelling at him, asking him “what the shit he was doing”, but he could also see himself cooly responding, “keeping her happy.”

Celeste had a certain aggressiveness to her that he was quite taken to. Maybe it was her full lips, soft and pillowy against his own, pushing him against the wall of the lift, not caring that this lift could stop at any moment, and someone would see them. Even as she pulled away from him with her quaint smirk he knew he was suffering. Whatever this lady wanted from him right now he was willing to throw it at her, if it meant that she would give him back his rationality.

“What room number?” she breathed against his lips.

“Eighteen-o-seven.” Phil responded, looking up as the lift dinged signalling that they’d arrived to their floor. He pretty much let himself be dragged into the room. As she slid the key into the door he couldn’t help but give her round butt a squeeze, only exciting her more.  

“I thought you were supposed to be a gentleman,” she teased as Phil turned on the lights. The suite was as lavish as you’d expect the Sir Daniel Howell would have wanted it to be. From the sleek black furniture in the lounge in the front, complicated looking shower, amazing jacuzzi bathtub to two king sized beds in separate rooms. He supposed Dan always made sure he got his money’s worth when staying somewhere.

“Fantastic,” Celeste commented with a giggle as she stepped closer to Phil. She leaned forward and kissed him again, this time she being the one to be lost in his lips and hands on her lower back.

“How can I make your night Madame?” Phil asked in a terrible French accent.

“Show me your skills in speaking French,” she said with a giggle, as she felt Phil place his fingers at the nape of her neck to get to the zipper of her dress. He looked at her as he slowly started to pull the zipper of down, watching as the garment loosen before falling off her body completely.

“Certainly.”

-

Back in the banquet hall Dan sat at a table with some of the members of what he referred to as his inner web. Keeping all of his secrets and dirty work to himself was no fun, plus he was only one man. He needed some close friends he could almost trust with the many branches of his company. Of course, none of these people worked with him in London, they were all posted in different corners of the world where he needed an especially close watch.

Truthfully, Dan mostly used them for gossip. He needed as many eyes and ears as he could find, with mouths that were tight lipped. To him, nothing could be worse than having his “trustables” be loose with all of his intel and schemes.

"I hear you've started Golden," Addison stated. Right after Tom, Addison was the next closest thing he had to someone he could listen to and not regret it. Addison possessed all the skills he had, it was just that he wasn't as bold as him, nor was he as daring, but he had good heart and even better ideas.

"Oh yes, I've heard that too. Are you sure it's worth the risk?" a woman by the name of Viola added. Viola was his second set of brains and person left in charge of keeping the others in line. She was sharp and quiet, but always had the best information to share.

Dan chuckled as he slid his fork into the chocolate cake in front of him. "Everything I do is risky. If you ask me, this is just another startup project."

"I heard Mother is back on the scene." Cohen said. Cohen on the other hand was the snake of Dan’s group. Sometimes, he’s not sure why he kept this slimy little shit so close to him. It was probably because he knew that if he was under his watch, he couldn’t get himself into other trouble elsewhere. Plus, he was the best when it came to digging up dirt on other people who stood in his way.

"Oh is she now?" Dan questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"That's what I've heard through The Wall." Cohen clarified.

"I'm the crux of the The Wall. I should have heard this already,”

"The web has been keeping secrets recently; you should know that Dan." Addison commented in a mildly accusatory tone.

"All secrets get uncovered eventually." Viola added.

"Then you should should probably get a move on before yours are found out." Cohen said with a chuckle.

"Cohen," Addison reprimanded, catching wind of the slight glare Dan had given him.

"Hey Dan? Where's your friend?" Viola asked, looking in the direction of the table where Phil and Celeste had been sitting together.

"He can handle himself." Dan replied

"Is he still being dragged around by Celia?" Cohen teased with a laugh.

Dan shrugged, "Probably."

"You know Celia probably has her hands down his pants already," Viola added with a giggle.

"They were probably there before dinner even ended," Addison added with an eye roll. "Can't say I blame her though, Phil's kind of cute."

"Please control yourself." Dan replied with slight annoyance.

"I was just stating a fact."  Addison mumbled as he took a sip of his water.

-

“Oh my god Phil,” Celeste moaned, pushing Phil’s head deeper between her legs, as if Phil could go any deeper than he was now. He was running his tongue over her with such fervor, that there was nothing left for her to do but lie back and let him pleasure her.

This certainly was not in the job description. He held down on her hips, feeling as she rolled against him, her hand tugging roughly on his hair. His hand stroked her thigh as he felt them tremble,spreading slightly more for him.

“Holy Fuck,” she whimpered , when Phil introduced his fingers to mix.

Phil couldn’t help but smirk to himself when Celeste yelped, her back arching as he she reached her first orgasm, but he didn’t stop there. He merely slowed down his licks and fingers for a moment, before building her up for a second. Like, a true gentleman.

Much later Phil found himself sitting on the bed, listening to the shower run wondering if Dan had taken notice that he was no longer around. His next thought was whether or not the gala was even still going on. What if he was on his way up to their room right now? Phil dismissed the thought, Dan was probably too caught up in his own affairs.

He got up from the bed and stretched. He figured he probably should put his trousers back on or something. Phil picked up Celeste’s dress and laid it on the bed, dropping her panties in the process. Just as he was leaning down to pick them up, something caught his eye about them. The tag in the back had neon green writing on the inside of them. He raised an eyebrow as he inspected the tag.

“What do we have here?” Phil mumbled, as he recognized the opening kill code sequence. This was what Dan had come here in search of tonight. Phil quickly glanced in the direction of the bathroom, before swiftly moving to the lounge where Dan’s laptop was. He copied the codes line for line into a word document. How was he going to prove to Dan that these were legit without keeping her panties.

Then it hit him; picture proof. It didn’t get any better than that. He fished his phone out of his pocket and help up the panties next to his face, with the code on full display. He took a couple of selfies, until he had the one with the perfect smirk.

He chuckled to himself as he clicked the button to send it to Dan. He was going to get a kick out of this. Phil clicked to print them. How Dan was able to demand that there be a printer in his suite, he’d never know but he figured no one in the right mind would dare argue with the Sir Daniel Howell. He closed Dan’s laptop and and placed Celeste’s panties back with her dress, before placing the picture of the codes in the black folder.

-

“You were wonderful darling,” Celeste commented as the lift reached the floor where the ballrooms were.

“Good to hear you had a good time,” Phil said with a satisfied grin.

“Anyways, I’ll let you get back to Dan. I have a train to catch to Italy and I know the others must be waiting for me. Tell Dan I send my regards.” she said giving him a peck on the cheek.

After the two of them left the lift and went their separate ways, Phil stood just around the corner from the ballrooms waiting for Dan to come meet him. He was mentally preparing himself to get it from Dan. He could be this reckless as an MI6 agent; he wasn’t so sure about being like that with Dan though.

“What the shit is this?” Dan demanded as he walked up to Phil, holding up his phone. The picture Phil had sent to his phone on his screen.

“Those would be your codes. You know the ones you came here looking for.” Phil replied cooly. “Sorry that version must be a bit hard to read. Hold on,” he started as he pulled the folder out of his tux coat? "Here are you codes," Phil said, handing a folder to him.

"How did you get these that fast?" Dan replied skeptically as he examined the contents of the folder to make sure they were legit.

Phil smirked, "Not without a bit of work of course. That reminds me, Madame Celeste sends her regards."

Dan looked at Phil with confusion and then took another look at the picture. "You didn't."

Phil shrugged, "I told you I was a charmer. Plus you told me to keep her happy.”

“Not _that_ happy.” Dan fired back.

Phil rolled his eyes, “You should be thanking me. Who knows who was actually supposed to see that.”

“How the hell did you know–”

“Truthfully, I didn’t but then I noticed.”

“Who the hell puts codes in panites.”

“Clearly someone who didn’t want you to be the one get to them.” Phil teased.

"Oh shut the fuck up." Dan hissed.

"I was kidding. I think it’s more along the lines of someone who wanted to make you work for them." Phil said.

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would she be the one to have them?” Dan thought outloud. None of that made sense. What would Celia Haute being doing with codes to the last chip? Wouldn’t she just use it for her own purpose–no she was someone’s pawn, but who? It couldn’t be Mason Steels, he had no use for the chip nor did he have any use keeping it away from him.

“I have no idea.” Phil replied, watching as Dan’s eyes scanned over the files and then around the room.

“Whatever, good work. I will relay this information when we get back to the room.”

“Sounds good.”

“Also, you’re sleeping on whichever bed you fucked her on.” Dan spat as he walked off.

-

“I’m sorry where did you say you found these again?” Tom asked incredulously. “I need to make sure I heard you right.”

Dan and Phil were sitting in front of Dan’s laptop video chatting Tom to have him log everything that had happened tonight and maybe start looking into some stuff that didn’t make much sense to Dan.

“They were in Celia Haute’s panties,” Dan said with an eyeroll.

“Her name is Celeste,” Phil corrected.

“Yeah you’d know, but actually that was Celia.” Dan corrected.

“And you didn’t tell me?” Phil asked, annoyed that Dan had kept information from him.

“It was an extremely small thing. She hates her name Celia, and likes the name Celeste so she tries to use it, but all of us pretty much still know her as Celia,” Dan explained.

“Oh,” Phil replied.

“You know what, I have never seen that done before.” Tom said with a chuckle. “Like that is ingenious, but I’m more curious as to why there,” Tom continued, as he leaned forward into the camera. “I haven’t had the time to think it through all the way but it doesn’t make much sense at all.”

“Do you see my problem now?” Dan responded with a sigh.

“I think you may have more problems than that…” Tom commented, his voice trailing. “Have you actually deciphered these codes Dan?”

“Not really, I haven’t had the chance. Why do you ask?” Dan questioned.

“All it’s coming out to is–” Tom started.

“JADE?” Phil interrupted as he worked it out on the screen.

“Jade? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is that the color of the chip?” Dan exclaimed.

“I have no clue. However, if there’s anything I’m certain about at this very point in time it is that whoever is moving the chip around, wants whoever is looking for it to go on a little scavenger hunt for it. If I didn’t know any better, which I don’t, I’d go as far as to say that this is clue number one in your search boys.” Tom said, folding his hands one over another. “I’ll look into it for you. We can talk more when you guys return.”


	4. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan will do anything for any extra intel he can get, and apparently so will Phil.

Skepticism was not something Dan was fond of. The fact that there could be false information being sent his way gave him shivers. He was supposed to be the chess master, carefully moving his pieces for the final checkmate. The whole point of the way he liked to do things, and more importantly who he confided his trust in was primarily to avoid being wary of others and curb his growing cynicism. Then again, he was the most cynical person he knew. Who else would destroy something as delicate as a flower to make it a sender of death? What kind of person shoots someone in cold blood–one that has goals to accomplish and not enough time to think for every last person, that’s for sure.

Did he regret any of the things he did? Truthfully no. Everything he did was to make sure he was able to run his company smoothly and put certain people back in their places. If Dan didn’t know any better he would say he was justified in making sure the chaotic cyber criminal world had some sort of order to it. They couldn’t all be stealing each other’s content and intel, there would be no distinction and no one would be able to succeed on any plane.

Ever since they’d gotten back from Paris, Dan had been meaning to get in contact with a certain someone. A person who definitely knew more than his inner web and was probably just tingling with joy. It was for this reason that he and Phil were sitting in Dan’s black porsche in a parked beneath an abandoned lot. He needed someone to talk for him and this was the only way he was going to get this person to speak.

“The gun is in its case in the back seat.” Dan stated simply as he brought out his laptop. “Is your earpiece in?”

“Yep,” Phil replied as he put on his special gloves. “I’m a bit rusty; we try not to use these in MI6.” he commented as he slid the case out of the backseat.

“I don’t need a clean shot, just something that won’t kill him.” Dan explained as he set up his laptop and the microphone for Phil’s ear piece.”Now listen to me Phil, if he even tries to resist my questions shoot him, got it?”

“Loud and clear flower boy,” Phil responded with a grin as he slammed the car door shut.

“I told you to stop calling me that if you didn’t want to die!” Dan snapped.

“My bad...Flower boy.” Phil challenged as as he headed for the stairs to the roof of the abandoned lot.

Dan sighed as he sat back further into his seat, “I need a drink.”

“If this goes well then we can go out to a nice dinner and you can get as trashed as you want” Phil teased as he continued to climb the stairs.

“Shut up and let me be tragic,” Dan mumbled. He double checked that all of his systems were working. All of the information he was going to need was loaded on his screen, plus the security cameras he had placed inside this person’s flat were displaying the room he was in.

Phil laughed, “Don’t worry. I’ll make this nice and easy for us. Just do your talking thing and I’ll make sure he speaks to you.”

“That’s why you’re my partner. And we do have dinner plans for eight thirty so this cannot take more than an hour.”

Once he was at the top of the lot Phil set up his sniper. That was the gun that Dan had shoved into his hands when he met him earlier today before coming out tonight to put it to use. He couldn’t remember the last time his fingers had the privilege of gracing one of these bad boys. He laid on his stomach as he aimed it into the apartment of the guy Dan was supposed to be talking to. He smirked to himself when he saw his subject step into view and then out to pick up his cellphone that was on the table.

Meanwhile, Dan sat in his car listening as the phone rang, ready to talk to the Mr. Reese Schmidt.

_Reese Schmidt. Otherwise known as the loose lipped friend of Mason Steels. Mason himself was quite irrelevant and Tom had confirmed that, the only thing keeping him in the ring was the fact the Celia worked for him, and that this asshole Dan was about ready to rip a new one was always up to something, getting Mason’s name dragged through the gutter with him._

“Hello,” Reese answered uneasily.

“It’s been awhile hasn’t it?” Dan replied, grinning to himself.

“I suppose it has,” Reese replied.

“How have you been? Has that scar from the incident you ran into in Hong Kong finally healed? Oh and what about Mason how has he been doing?” Dan asked, making Reese’s stomach churn. Truthfully, Dan’s tone gave Phil a few shivers too; he sounded too polite for what he was planning.

“Yeah, got the stitches removed a little under two months ago, and you know Mason–passive.”

“That’s good to hear. I really do enjoy hearing of my colleagues well being. Life can be so hectic and health is quite important. You know a lot of us don’t drink enough water and–”

“What are you calling about Howell?” Reese interrupted. “If you’re going to kill me just send me the flower like everyone else.” he added, trying not to let the panic slip into his voice. The words were enough to make Phil reaim his line at Reese as he sat down outside on his balcony with a cigarette.

Dan chuckled,” Oh Reese, if I truly I wanted to kill you I would have done it already by now. No, no that’s not what I’m interested in right now.” Dan mused. “ Right now I want facts.” he finished, his tone becoming more blunt.

“What is it you’d like to know?” Reese asked.

“Don’t pull that shit with me, you know damn well why I’m calling.”

“Maybe I really don’t.” he challenged from the other line.

“You sure?” Dan questioned.

“Posit-Shit!” Reese exclaimed from the other side of the line. His hand was now over his shoulder as a fine trickle of blood seeped down his arm. Phil grinned.

“I’m sorry what was that?”

“Oh fuck! I don’t know what you’re talking ab–ahh!” Reese tried to continue again before getting a bullet in the other shoulder.

“Tell me what you know about Mother.” Dan demanded.

“I know that she’s back and she’s ready to dance. That’s all I know I swear.” Reese said in between heavy pants. “I don’t know what that means but I know you should watch your back and keep your eyes open because not everything is as it seems. You’re not getting that chip easy.” he spewed.

“I’m truly sorry this had to be so messy for the two of us. I really do; don’t even get me started on how squeamish I get! I hope you make a speedy recovery.” Dan replied before hanging up. At the same time, Phil was disassembling the gun and putting it away, so he could clear the area before Reese got the chance to get a good look around.

Dan looked at the time: A quarter past eight. Good time.

-

“Hurry up and change your shirt.” Dan ordered with an eyeroll as Phil slipped off the black jumper he’d been wearing earlier to put on the button up he’d brought with him.

“I just don’t want to be underdressed for dinner,” Phil mumbled as he fastened the buttons on his shirt.

“Why didn’t you just put it under?” Dan asked, as if that was the logical thing to do it.

“I didn’t think of it…” Phil admittedly sheepishly with a slight blush.

“Your buttons are misaligned right here.” Dan commented, pointing to it for him, seeing as Phil was confused as to why he had a leftover button. “Wow you’re a dork. I can’t believe I trust you with firearms, knowing very well that you manage to smash mugs like no other.”

“That was one time.” Phil said with a chuckle.

The two of them got out of the car and walked into the restaurant. Dan led the path walking up to the waitress before giving her his name for the reservation. Phil merely smiled as the lady led them to their table set in the corner. To Dan’s surprise the person he was supposed to be meeting was already sitting waiting.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing your friend!” Addison whined as Dan and Phil sat down. “I would have worn something different.” he said grinning at Phil, causing him to chuckle and blush under the flattery.

“Stop now.” Dan ordered, lowering his gaze on Addison.

“I’m sorry I won’t hit on your cute friend,” Addison replied, giving Phil a quick wink. “Pretty boy.”  he whispered.

“You just love to test my patience don’t you?” Dan responded.

“I think it keeps your life interesting.” Addison stated, taking a sip of water.

“My life is plenty interesting,”

“You get bored, and none of us like it when you get bored.” Addison added just before their waitress came by again, and with the snap of a finger the festering hostility melted as Dan chuckled and laughed with the waitress as she took their orders and suggested wine choices.

“Like a switch,” Addison leaned over to Phil and whispered with a snap of his fingers.

“Do you enjoy playing with your life?” Phil asked with a chuckle, watching as Dan spoke to the lady.

“I think I’m just a little too confident with him sometimes. I doubt you’ve noticed it yet, but as you get to know Dan you’ll see that he’s quite volatile. One minute it’s a smile, the next it’s a frown and a trembling finger over the trigger. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes it harder for the people he’s actually close with to read him. To everyone else he’s some power hungry maniac, but he’s far more complex than that.” Addison explained.

“Yeah, I can already tell. I think he’s worried, but if he’s not I don’t want to put that in his head. Hell, I already know he’s paranoid because he won’t let anyone but me fix his tea anymore,” Phil replied, looking at Addison.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all. Having you around eases some of that tension for him; I could tell just from that gala in Paris,”

“Really? That’s nice to know.”

“I bet it is,” Addison said with a light chuckle.

“Stop flirting over there so we can talk about serious matters, and whether or not Phil’s going to take you on a date.”

“I get it, I’ll step off. Looks like you want to keep him for yourself huh?” Addison said with a giggle, hinting at something more than the obvious implications.

“What do you mean?” Dan replied skeptically.

“You mean he’s not your boy toy? That’s a shame I like to share,” Addison continued, hoping Dan would catch on to what he was getting at.

“Oh god you don’t mean–”

“Oh yeah–”

“But why–what part does he have in this?”

“Not sure yet, but I’ll leave it up to you two to figure it out.” Addison said.

“What’s going on Dan?” Phil asked.

“Let me talk to Tom first and then I”ll tell you. I might have a very strange request for you in a couple of days,” Dan explained, looking mildly horrified.

“Should I be worried?” Phil questioned looking at the two of them.

“Uh, no, not exactly. I would say you should keep your horizons open though.” Addison quickly said for Dan.

Phil nodded, eyes shifting from Dan to Addison. He was extremely confused and kind of nervous. He didn’t like the look on Addison’s face or the glint of anger in Dan’s. What he hated the most was the fact that he was the in the middle of it and somehow a crucial part to whatever the issue was.

The rest of dinner passed much like this. Addison and Dan referencing things that made little to no sense to him, and him quietly observing everything, wondering how Dan had seriously drank an entire bottle of wine by himself. By the time they were all actually leaving dinner Dan just looked at Phil and gave him his car keys.

“Personally I don’t think I’m drunk but I probably shouldn’t drive.” Dan confessed with a slight slur. “You can drive right?”

“Uh sure,” Phil said taking the keys. “Where do you want me to take you?”

“I literally do not care,” Dan murmured as he got into the passenger seat.

“Okay, well I’m just going to drive back to my flat. You can chill there with me and then drive yourself back home, or whatever.” Phil proposed.

“Sounds like a good idea; You have good ideas and hair,” Dan mused with a giggle.

-

Dan did not end up driving himself back to his flat later that night. Instead he said he was just going to lie down on the sofa for a bit and sober up, but he kind of just ended up passing out. Phil had no idea what he was supposed to do, so he just draped a blanket over him before taking himself to bed.

To much of Phil’s expectation, Dan was still snoring out on his couch when he rolled out of bed around ten the next morning. He sighed as he shuffled over to his kitchen to made himself breakfast. Of course Dan was going to be hungover the next morning. Who in their right mind drinks an entire bottle of wine by themselves? Phil looked over his shoulder when he heard the couch rustle a bit.

"You up?" Phil asked.

"No." Dan groaned, using the blanket to cover his head. It was so bright in Phil’s lounge, and he hadn’t even opened any of the curtains yet.

Phil smiled to himself as he poured himself some coffee, “How’s that bottle of Red Wine feeling?” he teased as he grabbed another mug for Dan.

"Terrible just terrible,” Dan whined still hiding under the covers.

“Com’on you’ve probably felt worse pain than this. Haven’t you been stabbed?”

“It feels like someone is stabbing my brain,” Dan replied through gritted teeth as he sat up properly. He leaned forward and placed his head in his hands.

Phil shook his head and walked over to the couch with the mug for Dan. “You’ll live.” he commented as he handed him the mug. “I didn’t make it the way you like it because one, there’s no Bailey’s in my flat, and two I really think the last thing you need is more alcohol.”

“Thanks,” Dan replied quietly as he took the mug from Phil, taking small sips.

“I know you just woke up and the last thing you want to hear right now is more shit about Golden, but Tom texted me saying there was something to meet about. He said you called him last night, to which I said “Wasn’t he drunk last night”, and Tom was like “Oh yeah trust me I know”, butI ’ll let you two work it out.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dan retorted.

“Yeah but later, it looks like you’re dying. How about something for that headache?” Phil proposed, before he got up from the couch and to the cabinet where he kept all of his medicine.

“Leave me here to suffer,”

“As your business partner I can’t let you do that. I don’t know what I’m doing and you’re the only one who has most of this crazy stuff figured out, so if you can’t think none of us can.” Phil said with a shrug, filling up a glass of water. He walked back over to Dan and handed him the pills.

“You’re a lifesaver Phil.” Dan said right before he knocked back the two pills.

Phil grinned, “Serves your ass right for drinking an entire bottle of wine. I still cannot believe I witnessed that.”

“Last night was stressful,” Dan replied nonchalantly.

“It really wasn’t. You did not need to do that.”

“You sound like my mum,” Dan mumbled, taking a sip of water.

“Someone has to keep you in line.” Phil countered. "You're a lot of talk and you do dumb things. You could place the barrel of your gun to the center of my head and I wouldn't flinch, just because it's you.

Dan rolled his eyes and drank some more water. He fished his phone out of his pocket when he felt it buzz, his eyes narrowing at the texts from Addison and Tom, and the ones he sent to them last night. “Next time I get drunk take my phone away. Actually, better yet do not let me get drunk at all.”

-

After a few hours of Dan pacing Phil’s flat trying to debate whether or not his next move was right, and going to back to his own flat to do the same, Dan and Phil sat in Tom's office again. He had voiced his concern over the phone to Tom at least twice in the hour prior to their physical meeting and tried to suggest as many different alternatives he could think of. All of which Tom sadly had to admit would not work due to the safety locks, hidden files, doubled armed folders, and other safety precautions placed on the computer he needed to get into.

"Great to see you two again," Tom greeted with a smile. "I'm not going to ask if you two enjoyed Paris, because I know one of you did, and the other probably made his own fun." he said causing Phil to redden and Dan to roll his eyes.

"Yes the croissants were lovely, Dan replied sarcastically.

"I'm sure they were." Tom responded as he typed something. He sighed, "Oh okay, let's not stall off the inevitable. Maximilian Lane; that name means nothing to you Phil but we will get there."

"So Addison wasn't trying to light a fire between us? He was giving it to me straight?" Dan asked, biting one of his nails. Phil would have never guessed Dan to be one to bite his nails, then again it appeared to be a coping measure of sorts.

"I'm afraid so," Tom said sympathetically.

"What's so bad about the Maximilian guy?" Phil asked.

"Just Max; I was just stating his full legal name." Tom corrected. "And more than you would–I mean anyone really–would like to be accustomed with.

"Be honest Tom, how bad is it going to be?" Dan asked, fully aware that he hadn't explained who the guy was to Phil yet.

"Depends on what you consider bad,"

"What do we have to do?" Phil questioned.

"You'll need to get to his computer; which will require you to get into his bedroom first," Tom

"Bedroom?" Phil repeated.

"Truthfully, that's the only tricky part. Once you get to it all you have to do is put this USB drive in and download everything from his email, and certain files that Dan can direct you to." Tom explained.

"Okay, I think I can handle that. I don't get why that's such a problem. What's the real issue?" Phil asked, afraid of the answer.

"Uh, Dan do you want to explain?" Tom said nervously.

"Why do I have to do it?" Dan whined, immediately blushing. He rubbed the back

Of his neck awkwardly as he looked over at Phil, unable to even begin.

"Your partner, technically your request." Tom replied trying to stay out of it. "I'll leave you two to it." he added as he swiftly stood up from his desk and walked out of his own office.

"Oh wow," Dan mumbled. "Uh I guess I should start by telling you more about who Max is. Max was a website designer; he was very interested in simple HTML coding and website design that kind of stuff. You know the details that make websites aesthetically pleasing and all of that."

"Okay..." Phil mumbled.

"He really likes aesthetically pleasing things: sounds, color schemes, grids...people." Dan continued, picking his words carefully.

"Aesthetically pleasing people?"

"People he finds attractive; hot people. He likes to indulge himself in them. If you catch my drift..."

"I really don't. Max is some design freak who really likes attractive people, that's all I'm getting.” Phil replied with a shrug.

"Okay but it's more than that. He likes to fuck people he finds hot. He will take those aesthetically pleasing people into his room to do so." Dan concluded.

“Let me get this straight, you want me to be your eye candy? To distract him, to get me into his room to get to his computer?" Phil asked with a blush, trying to dissect what Dan was actually telling him.

“Not quite, you’re more like my whore,” Dan corrected. "He likes aesthetically pleasing whores. He would never let himself indulge if you were actually a significant other of mine."

"No no no no no!" Phil exclaimed, understanding the implications of that statement.

“I mean you already whore yourself out as it is, so I’m sure this would be a very hard role for you to slip into.” Dan replied in direct accusation of what happened between Phil and Celia, causing Phil to roll his eyes.

"Take your gun and put two bullets through the back of my head right now." Phil retorted. "It would be easier."

"Phil please I didn't mean it; you have to do this for me," Dan begged. He wished it could be done any other way but they needed to get to Max's computer, and implant the USB drive to transfer whatever information he had. Addison had hinted he was majorily involved and Tom had confirmed it.

"This was not a part of the job description. I'm not going to whore myself out to some slime-master. Why can't you do it? I can handle some of the tech surveillance stuff,"

"I can't. I've already expressed my rejection of him many times; I can't have a sudden change in character now. You don't actually have to have sex him."

"Then why can't you get Addison or someone else to do it?"

Dan sighed and ran his fingers through his hair,  "Because, Addison is out of town (not that he would ever agree to it), Viola is ace, and Cohen can’t be trusted to get intel without spilling some.”

Plus everyone he knew that could possibly do it lack a certain sex appeal that would draw Max right in. He’d made himself more than familiar with Max’s photography over the last couple of hours, and Phil fit the description to a T: Tall, but shorter than him, a striking eye color, good physique,and somewhat shy in front of the camera (and in person under flattery), really nice ass.

Phil closed his eyes and sighed, "What is it I have to do?"

"So you'll do it?" Dan exclaimed with a smile.

"Tell me what I have to do first," Phil demanded, flushing a bit more.

"Well," Dan started, blushing himself. "For starters you'll need to look the part, but we will worry about that later. Uh, you're going to have to sell the whole flirty hands on thing but uh that's it? Maybe some kisses, lapsitting, and whatever the hell that freak wants you to do."

"Nothing else?" Phil asked, trying to take all of that in.

"Can't be opposed to some touching but until then I can promise you; nothing else I can account for. Aside from the computer thing." Dan promised, biting his ring finger nail.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. I'm in, let's do it." Phil said placing his head in his palms to cherish what little dignity he felt he had left.

-

To Dan’s dismay, he wasn’t able to meet with Max till next Friday night. This was wasting his time, and time was something that was slowly becoming very important to Dan. Everytime he stalled was more time for “The Fox” to create new tricks and move the chip even further out of his grip. He didn’t like the thought of not being able to to know for sure. He just needed a little bit more; the next piece to keep rolling, but right now he was a sitting target.

Idleness was an infection that festered and burned inside of Dan. He didn't like having time to question his ideas and next moves. That's when human error started to take it's effect and its toll on his mind. As much as he hated to admit it, Addison was right. All he did was make trouble for himself when he had time on his hands. Dan enjoyed movement, and chaos except for when he was the one being sent into it.

At this very moment he was mostly worried about this night going well. He was currently sitting in Max's Art Deco flat, being more than civil. Dan was sure to dress Phil in a black sheer top and tight black jeans. He giggled to himself, remembering how flustered Phil was when he held up the outfit in front of him. Dan had to admit it, Phil did look pretty hot there was no way in hell this wasn't going to work.

Even as he opened the door to let the two of them in, he could see the way Max was eyeing up Phil. It made him so fucking sick to his stomach. Even as they say and talked for a bit, he found himself holding onto Phil's waist as he sat on his lap quite tightly, as if he was making it clear that he was his possession. He had to give it to Phil though, he was doing an amazing job at the roll. The kisses he was giving him and little giggles had him feeling a little lightheaded and lost.

"Dan you really should visit more often," Max commented from his kitchen.

"Yeah I really should, but you know me. I'm always busy but it's nice catching up with you. I see your art everywhere," Dan replied, playing with Phil's hair.

"Your friend, he doesn't talk much now does he?" Max said as he walked over with a tray of chocolate Patron and three glasses already filled with chocolate sauce.

“You talk, don’t you pretty boy?” Dan questioned, taking note of Phil’s eye roll.

“Sometimes,” Phil started with a giggle, before placing a soft kiss on Dan’s cheek. "Isn't that a bit sweet for your taste?" Phil questioned, trying to be mildly flirty. He watched as Max raised an eyebrow as he poured.

"It's not too sweet. I quite like the taste, I think you will too." He said with a grin as he handed the glass to Phil.

"You should sit by Max love," Dan said a little bit more aggressive than he wanted it to sound.

"I don't mind. You two can sit together, unless you'd like to sit with me Phil."

"Uh sure," Phil replied with a slight blush as he got off of Phil's lap. He looked at Dan one last time who just nodded and took a sip of his drink. Phil had the USB and the special contact that would help Dan direct him to what files to open. He would be fine.

"Be nice," Dan muttered, more as a threat to Max than to Phil. He swore if Max even hurt Phil a little he would not hesitate to personally drag that man by his blond hair and beat his face in.

"I'll play nice," Max said with a smirk as he draped his arm over the back of the couch where Phil was seated.

Phil smiled. Apparently this was it? That was how he was transferred over from Dan to Max. They hadn't explicitly said anything about what was happening, but I suppose the had some sort of silent communication or agreement. Sometimes he really hated the way Dan did things, but he figured Dan always knew what he was doing. It wasn’t his place to act on his own. The exchange also meant only another customary hour or so of conversation before Phil would be on his own.

"Phil, would you be interested in seeing some of my work in progresses?" Max asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"Sure," Phil replied.

"I'll leave you two to it, I'm just going to step out and make a couple of phone calls. You know how business is." Dan said already standing up to leave.

"Alright Dan; don't lock yourself out." Max said, still gazing at Phil.

In Phil's eyes his art was terrible. He figured he just wasn't one for the whole minimalist- pop art style he was trying to coin. However, he was sure it was because of the clammy hand that was just on his waist as he droned on and on about it. It literally took every bone in his body not to swing on Max when he placed his hand on his bum and squeezed it.

"Bold color choices," Phil commented, resisting the urge to side eye Max.

"Oh this is nothing. Just a bit of Yellows and magentas. What I would do to you if you were a work of art would be different," Max replied, squeezing Phil's bum again.

"Oh?" Phil said, flushing for real.

"I'd probably take the brightest blue I could find and make a strip in the center. Probably put some green and yellow circles in it for your eyes, and maybe a splash of purple or something, but I'm sure you're tired of hearing about my art." Max said turning Phil to face him.

"Not exactly..."

"I could show you some of my other projects of you'd follow me." Max said taking Phil's hand and leading them out of his studio and to his room. The one place where Phil simultaneously wanted and dreaded to be in. There was only one thing on Phil's mind and that was getting to the computer as fast as possible. He hoped Dan was ready to go. When Phil entered his room he was only going to have somewhere near fifteen minutes until Dan synced up to his contact.

-

"Come here darling," Max said opening his arms as Phil sauntered over to his lap. He wasn't being paid enough (not that he was actually being paid at all) to be a whore for the night. "I bet Dan never calls you that." he added as Phil straddled his thighs.  
  
Phil giggled, "You could say that."  
  
"Tell me darling," Max started as he ran his hands up Phil's back, pulling his body closer to his. "You're special to Dan aren't you?"  
  
"I would say so," Phil replied, wishing he could roll his eyes.  
  
"He doesn't just let anyone touch you," Max said with a grin as he stroked Phil's chin.  Admittedly, an odd gesture but Phil let it go as he stroked Max’s wrist. "If I didn't know any better I'd say this was the first time he's let anyone come this close..." he mused as he took Phil's hand and kissed it.  
  
"You're not wrong," Phil murmured.  
  
"Of course not. I saw that look on his face when I had the audacity to ask. He looked so  taken aback, like I was going to scuff up his precious diamond. Are you his precious diamond?"  
  
"I'm his kitten; That's what he likes to call me," Phil said, playing with his hair as he tried to immerse himself longer into the roll as his scan continued on. In two minutes Dan would be given an entire layout of the room and would be able to see everything he could.   
  
"Meow," Max cooed.

“I hope you like cats; I scratch,” Phil said sensually as he pawed at his chest.

“Lovely darling, absolutely lovely,” Max murmured, placing a kiss to the side of Phil’s neck. Luckily, the red circle in Phil’s vision had switched to blue, signalling that Dan had successfully synced up. Now it was time for Phil’s fun of the night.

“Oh Max stop that,” Phil giggled. He was waiting for his moment.  

“Oh you like that? Hmm,” Max snickered as he continued to kiss his neck.

“No really,” Phil said, his tone changing. “Stop.”

“What’s wrong? Too rough?” Max asked, pulling away.

“No, not rough enough,” Phil replied, punching Max as hard as he could in the temple. He couldn’t help but smirk as Max’s unconscious body fell to the side. He was going to be out for a while. Phil stood up and walked over to the computer that was in the corner. There were about three monitors, and a whole lot of geek shit Dan would love to look at. He fished out the USB and earpiece as he sat down. He wiggled the mouse, and stopped for a moment to put in the earpiece.

“Nice hit,” Dan said with a chuckle.

“Thanks, my hand still hurts,” Phil said as he plugged in the USB.

“I’m sure it does.” Dan commented.

“Anyways, what am I supposed to be looking for,” Phil asked as he hacked into Max’s email. “I’m already downloading all of his emails.”

“Go back to his home screen,” Dan ordered, bringing his phone closer to his face to get a better look at the screen. “Do you see that file in the corner there, get all of that, and then go into his trash and look around in there. I’ll tell you what to take.”

By the time the two of them were done, Dan had everything he needed and more. All he could do was smile triumphantly as Phil walked out of Max’s flat and pretty much shoved the USB into his hands.

“Let’s go now.” Phil demanded blushing with embarrassment as he remembered everything that had happened tonight.

“Oh what? The fun was just getting started pretty boy,” Dant teased, earning him a particularly hard elbow to the gut.

-

“Wow you guys were able to get a lot from Max,” Tom commented as he continued to sift through all the files Dan was able to get out of his computer. It was three days later and Phil still hadn’t really recovered, so he wasn’t meeting with Tom. “Where’s Phil?” he asked.

“I think he’s at his flat or something. I don’t know, I figured he could use a couple of mental health days as you went through all of the stuff. I kind of asked him for a lot on that last mission, so I figured it was probably for the best.” Dan explained, rubbing his neck.

“Did he take it well? You know, aside from the embarrassment and stuff?” Tom questioned.

“Ah well, he seems to be fine. When I talked to him the other day he said he was doing fine and all. He sounded tired but like Phil so,” Dan said with a shrug.

“You don’t regret it do you?” Tom asked, giving Dan an eyebrow raise.

“I suppose that depends on what you find.” Dan tried to joke. He sighed, “I shouldn’t have taken advantage of Phil like that. He wanted to reject, I know he did. I mean hell he did, but he still gave in and did for it me anyways. I just feel bad for making him do that you know?”

“You? Feel bad? Are you sick or something?” Tom mocked.

“Shut up, I have emotions sometimes. All of the time really.” Dan confessed.

“Sounds like you need to take a day for yourself. You’re stressing yourself out way too much over all of this stuff.”

“Yeah maybe,” Dan mused.

“You should go back home, and maybe consider talking to Phil or something. I can take care of all this stuff, and everything else you’re doing won’t descend into chaos if you take the rest of today off.” Tom proposed.

“I just, I don’t know…” Dan commented.

“No, you should really take this time to relax because I’m not sure when the next time you’ll be able to breathe this easily will be.” Tom asserted.

“And why is that?”

“Because these are coordinates.” Tom said as he turned his computer screen to show Dan.  


	5. Deadlocked

Loyalty was something Phil prided himself in. His MI6 record would tell anyone else otherwise, however he did in fact believe in honoring a commitment to stay by somebody's side until the promised time span was through. Where he ran into trouble when it came to working was following orders. He was more than capable of following directions and four times out of five he did exactly what he was told. It was during that twenty percent of time that Phil got creative where he started to rub people the wrong way. Left up to everyone he’d ever worked with, they would have preferred that he stayed quiet and compliant. He was meant to be on the side, work in silence, and do it all efficiently.

Efficiency, what a vague word. Phil thought it was because what’s efficient isn’t always quiet or on the side. Sometimes it was about leaning over the precipice of treason and sanity, to nearly give death a kiss on the nose before a task could be completed “efficiently”.

If you asked Phil about everything he and Dan had done so far, he’d tell you that Dan had been playing it way too safe. Disappointed was a bit harsh of a word to describe how he felt, but Phil expected more. He expected his life to be in danger at every single moment; he was working for the number one criminal on MI6’s list. Then again, he was also a cyber criminal and everything he did was unnecessarily passive aggressive.

He sighed as he pulled out his suitcase from the back of closet. As he unzipped the bag to start his packing he could feel that itch he gets. The one to think of a better idea and just do it, without telling Dan. However, he knew he could never do that to him. He had way too much on the line and was being zipped around far too much for Phil to do what he thought would be a good move. He really did not know anything about Dan’s world, but he was sure that Dan had lost his notorious edge in this pursuit. Whatever had him chilled and nervous to go in and seize, Phil didn’t quite understand but he was sure that if he saw it then Dan definitely was aware of it.

Maybe that’s why they’d waited so long after their last move before moving on. Another three weeks had gone by without turning up anything relevant. Even now he could still see Dan’s tired red eyes and bags hunched over at his desk typing and typing hoping to make some connection, some sort of a breakthrough. Come to think of it, Dan probably hadn’t slept properly in days. He was thinking of all the cups of coffee Dan had been having him make and the bottle of caffeine pills that had fallen out of his bag. Dan was working night and day trying to get ahead, or rather catch up to whoever was making his life a living hell. The person would have probably loved to see the mighty Sir Daniel Howell, literally on his knees in front of a bunch of papers spewn out in front of him highlighting this, circling that, trying to put those words into his computer, only to sit back with nothing and unsure of what to do next.

Tom had told him to keep an eye out for Dan. He was the one giving him days off telling him that he didn’t have to come into his office to help him out. If there was anyone who needed to follow his own advice it was Dan. Phil placed another shirt into his suitcase and looked up from his work. It was a little past ten at night and Dan had texted him that he needed to start packing for “a bit of a trip” a little over an hour ago. He hadn’t even told him why or where they were going, or even when. Now that he was thinking about it, Dan probably didn’t even know where they were going either.  

Phil fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed Dan:

“Yes?” Dan answered tiredly.

‘Uh, Dan are you alright? You don’t sound so great…” Phil replied, completely forgetting why he’d felt the need to call Dan in the first place.

"I'm exhausted," but I think I'm finally on to something for real. "Can you bring me some food. I haven't eaten real food since three."

"Dan are you still at Fleur?" Phil asked with concern."Yeah, I haven’t actually left since I got here at three am after Tom told me to go home and sleep the other day.” Dan explained.

“Dan you’re going to make yourself sick!” Phil reprimanded as he made his way to his fridge to get the leftover stir fry and a bottle of water for Dan.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve dealt with worse. Just don’t forget your access key cause I’m positive I’m the only one left here.” Dan mumbled.

“Yeah I’m leaving now. I’ll be there as soon as possible.” Phil said as he placed the food in bag, and made sure he had this keys.

“I’ll explain once you get here.” Dan said just before he hung up.

-

Late night tube rides were always interesting to Phil. The bright fluorescent lights and the cars sparsely populated with one or two people sleeping or looking at their phones with exhausted eyes and poor posture. Phil tried to keep himself occupied by playing an app on his phone but he just didn’t care. He was worried about Dan and everything he’s trying to do. When someone wants something so bad that they were willing to go on a chase for it, they get hasty, obsessive, and stop thinking things through.

Then again, Dan was no regular person. He was far more intelligent and cunning, however he was somehow slightly less rational. Well, Phil wasn’t sure of that but he just had a feeling that Dan didn’t cope with desperation and lack of control very well. Just one look at the state he was slowly falling into now was a definite red flag that maybe he shouldn’t step on Dan’s toes or do anything out of line that might get him on his bad side.

With this in mind, Phil got off at his stop and strolled to the Fleur building. He listened as he shuffled his feet along the sidewalk, wondering how many tulips had actually been sent out since he’d started working with Dan. Even though it had only been a month, he figured that there was always work for a person like Dan to do. That’s why Dan ran a company; he needed other people to attend to all of his branches once he’d planned out what they should do.

As Phil neared the glass building he took a moment to stop and admire it. Dan had literally built this place from the ground up on his own, and he wasn’t even in his mid twenties yet. That took real talent and regardless of what would happen during Golden, he should always remember that. Sure, he wasn’t going to have the world but he had a lot and much more than he probably even realized. Phil wasn’t going to claim to know much about business, however he was positive that Dan was thinking big enough for what he could do with the power he had and not just focus on monetary gains.

Phil scanned his keycard into the receptor on the side of the building to let himself in. He was mildly concerned when he didn't hear the door pop, signaling it had been locked before. Considering that Dan was still here and probably forgot to take that security measure, Phil dismissed his concern and continued to walk to the lift and up to Dan's office. Just as he was pushing the up button on the lift he heard the sound of a heel hitting the tile.

He placed the bag he was holding down quietly and looked over his shoulder. He thought Dan said he was the only one here? Phil stepped away from the lift and towards the reception desk in the front. Whoever was in here had already heard him and was probably already trying to sneak up on him. The safest thing for him to do was to act like a curious concerned person.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Phil called as he picked up a pair of scissors, holding it like a knife, ready to be on the offensive. The lift dinged alerting him it was on the floor and Phil turned to go inside when he felt a hand come over his mouth and pull him down to the ground. He elbowed the attacker as hard as he could, and got to his feet as quickly as possible. He then gave the person a sharp kick to the side before picking them up by their shirt and slamming them against the wall with their arm twisted behind their back.

"It's rude not to answer." Phil commented as he twisted the person's arm further, grinning as the person bent their knees in pain, yet some how maintaining their silence.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Phil demanded. Dan had top notch security there was no way in hell anyone was going to be able to break in. If it wasn't during the day, there was no way to get past the front doors without setting off ten different alarms and locking the person in an area where they can't get in or out.

"None of your business." a feminine voice replied.

"It's a little bit of my business, now who are you?" Phil asked again.

"I work here." she spat, still struggling to break free of Phil's grasp.

"Sure you do. Then I'm sure you're familiar with the wall I have you against. You know the one with the random lightswitch." he added as he slammed her head against it to turn on all the lights.

"Fuck!" the woman cried.

In front of him was a head full of ginger hair. It had been pulled back into a sleek bun. Whoever this was, he didn't recognize her from the back. Either that or she worked on the lower floors.

"Why don't you just kill me already. I know you're armed," the ginger haired girl argued.

"That's too easy. Plus Sir Howell prefers it if I keep people alive, so I'm not going to kill anyone."

"Screw you. You can't stay here with me like this all night. Aren't you supposed to be going to go see him right now?" she challenged. Phil hated to admit it but she was right. He had nothing to tie her hands with and no way to assure that she wouldn't run. He sighed and reached into the back of his trousers, before placing the muzzle of the ray gun straight into her back.

"Run and you get fifty volts straight into your spine and if that doesn't kill you, you'll never walk again." Phil ordered. "Now walk towards the lift. We'll see Dan together."

The two of them walked to the lift and got inside. Phil scanned his keycard again which allowed him a direct route to Dan's office on the top floor. The ride was quiet and tense. Phil was positive that the girl was scheming to find a way out and make her escape, but Phil was also sure he had her cornered. Also, if she tried anything he definitely had the better combat skills out of the two of them, and he wouldn't hesitate bringing down the voltage and shooting this girl in the foot if he needed to.

Phil pushed the muzzle of the gun into the girls back again, forcing her to walk to Dan office. Phil used his free hand to knock on the door.

"Took you fucking long enough," Dan whined from the other side. Phil rolled his eyes.

"Open the door." he directed to the girl.

"What?" Dan questioned from the other side.

The ginger haired girl entered slowly with an unamused Phil behind her.

"You sit." Phil ordered using his gun to point to the couch in the corner. "You lock that door and turn on the building's defenses." he said to Dan.

"Would you look at that you found the mouse, or shall I say rat." Dan said glaring at the girl. He shifted his eyes over to Phil's extended arm, his finger placed firmly over the trigger ready to shoot at a moment's notice. "You can stand down Phil, she's not going anywhere."

“I thought you said you were positive no one was here?” Phil asked as he readjusted his glasses.

“I lied. I knew someone had gotten in a little over an hour ago. I was just letting them have a bit fun.” Dan said with a wicked smile. “You didn’t find anything did you sweetheart?”

"How can you be so sure?" the girl sassed.

"Your eyes don't look like someone's who is ready to die for whoever you're working for. I hardly doubt you’re dumb enough to find intel and get caught with it so..." Dan commented as he leaned further back in his chair. "Phil do you have that food I can't do this on an empty stomach." he whined.

"Relax, I have it right here. I'll just go heat it up real quickly–"

"I'll eat it cold." Dan sighed.

"What the fuck is happening here?" the girl questioned, eyes shifting from Dan to Phil.

"Dinner that's what!" Dan said cheerily as Phil handed the container and a fork to him. "Please excuse me. I haven't eaten since the early afternoon and I'm actually dying." Dan commented before shoveling a fork full of noodles into his mouth. "Actually I change my mind; heat this up."

"You're so difficult." Phil mumbled with an eyeroll as he took the container from Dan and left his office.

"You're awfully chummy with him..." the girl commented.

"Nevermind about that. Haven't we met before?" Dan asked, vaguely remembering her face.

"Is he your boyfriend?

"No, answer my question."

"You sure? Why is he bringing you food then?" the girl questioned, with an eyebrow raise.

"Cause I’m fucking hungry, now don’t test my fucking patience."

"You don't remember me Sir Howell?" she said as she brought down her hair and fluffed it out a bit.

"Tea and biscuits." Dan stated simply as he buzzed Phil back into his office.The girl smirked. She watched as Phil handed the food off Dan and went to stand by the door.

"Okay, so you tried to poison me, but why? I don't know you, what do you want with me?" Dan questioned in between chews.

"Why are you being so casual. I thought you were supposed to be intimidating?" the girl said, evading the Dan’s question.

"Don't say that, you'll make him angry." Phil teased.

"Shut up, it's late, and I don't want to be dealing with this right now. So let's make this easy okay?" Dan said.

"Fine. I personally have no use for you. I'm just trying to move up the ranks. As for my boss, I don't know."

"Who do you work for?" Phil asked.

"Hey I'm doing the interrogating here." Dan said with an eyeroll.

The girl giggled, "You two are cute, but to answer your question Lady Roisin."

"Lady Roisin?" Phil repeated.

"Mother." Dan mumbled with a sigh of clarification for Phil. "I didn't think she was so low to put someone on the inside. You two must be pretty close if you know her real name."

"You could say that. I'm not in her fave five, but I'd say I'm comfortably close."

"Well, make sure she knows that Sir Howell doesn't think very highly of her, and that he's ready for a waltz when she is." Dan said as he set down his fork.

"Done. So what are you going to do with me?" the girl asked.

"I'm not going to do anything but the lovely guards waiting a little outside these doors will. Phil please show this fine lady out." Dan said as he went back to eating.

Phil nodded and opened the door, letting the girl walk out first. He walked behind the girl until they reached the two guards waiting to take the girl wherever. She turned to Phil and smiled, “You two really are cute. I know Dan is probably too embarrassed to admit it at a time like that, but you two stay nice to each other.” she teased as the guys took her away. “He’s going to need a friend.” she added with a snicker. Phil nodded as he walked back to Dan’s office where Dan was still eating.

“Thank god that’s over. I knew someone had to be in here with me right now.” Dan sighed. “Thanks for bringing me dinner. I’ve been a bit of mess lately,” he continued, his tone becoming softer.

“Don’t worry about it. I just wanted to make sure you were okay,”

“Well I’m better now that I have some connections, but I’ve got a killer headache and I haven’t been able to take anything for it because I hadn’t eaten,”

“Now you have, so take some.” Phil concluded.

“Bossy,” Dan said with a pout as he shook the pills into his hand.

“You’re calling me bossy. You’re one to talk,” Phil scoffed as he sat in one of the chairs across from Dan. “So what is this breakthrough you made?”

“Oh yeah, here follow me.” Dan said as he pushed himself out of his chair and to the glass bookcase that stood against one of his walls. He pulled one of the black tulips that was sitting in a vase next to it. Phil grinned as the bookcase slid to reveal a short cut to the dark room Dan had initially showed him how to code in, and the primary location Dan did his scheming in.

“I was wondering when you were going to show me where that led to,” Phil commented as he followed Dan.

“What you actually thought that was a secret entrance right from the start?” Dan asked as he switched on the dim light, illuminating the neon lines criss crossing from sheet to sheet of paper.

“Not exactly, but I wasn’t going to be surprised if it was.” Phil said with a shrug. “You don’t seem like the person to do a lot of reading in his office, so it’s a bit out of place yet artfully hidden in plain sight cause bookcases are normal for offices.” he continued as he circled the room trying to make sense off the mess in front of him.

“I’ve been pretty busy, but we’re in business.” Dan said with a nervous chuckle and defeated sigh.

“Alright, explain all of these lines to me,”

“Okay so first I had Tom run searches on Max’s email. I was looking for people he was in frequent correspondence with, but then I realized I probably should be doing it by topic. Topic is more important than frequency, which I rearranged over here,” Dan explained, walking over to the neon orange lined wall. "As you can see there are only five things on this wall. One of which is the JADE we found back in Paris, a picture of Navy Pier in Chicago, a blurry picture of someone; I'm going to have Tom clear up, a phone number; I looked up the area code and it's for Chicago, and this email from Celia to Max:

_Hello there,_

_You know, I think this whole thing is more trouble than it's worth. I love vacationing and seeing new people but honestly I think this is a waste of time. Lady Roisin is a dear friend of mine but I just simply do not agree with her plans. She isn't going to win; at least not like this._

_Anyways, I guess New York is alright. I mean after a couple of weeks the excitement of the nightlife and shopping just seem dull to me. Same with the trouble of trying to secure a small diamond encrusted chest. She's really just trying to make a mess and I don't want to stand by_

_Have you talked to Jade in Chicago yet? Apparently she's in a bit of trouble with Mother, as all of us are, considering we've had multiple security breaches from factor D (isn't that such a silly name for him?)_

_Anyways be careful and be alert. I don't know how he's doing it but he's getting around and I don't think mother is quite ready for him yet._

_Take care,_

_Celeste Haute_

__

-

"So the topic is Chicago?" Phil asked.

"That's the destination." Dan corrected, "I mean you're not wrong but we're going to Chicago and we are going to meet with Jade. She's supposed to be attending something at the Crystal Gardens at Navy Pier."

"I don't know it sounds like you just really want to look at some flowers," Phil teased. "Are you gracing her presence with some of your own?" Phil asked with a dark chuckle.

"You know I didn't think of that. I think I will." Dan confessed as he walked back to his main office, Phil following. "She certainly wouldn't be expecting that..." he mused to himself.

"So when do we leave?"

Dan shrugged, "I'll let Tom book it. We could take a private jet but as soon as they see me flying in we'd be done for. I don't know, but hopefully as soon as possible."

"Okay now you're work is done. So what are you going to do now?"Phil questioned as he scooped up Dan's car keys.

"More work? I hope you realize we are still behind." Dan mumbled with a yawn.

"Yeah sure you are. Come on, I'm driving you home. You need to get a good sleep." Phil ordered, turning off Dan's computer.

"You're probably right..." Dan conceded.

"I know I am. You're the entire brains of this operation and if you're not rested you can't think. And if you can't think then we're all fucked, so let's go." Phil explained as he gathered Dan's stuff together.

-

Phil was not sure what he was expecting as he drove to Dan’s flat. Dan had sort of vaguely mumbled something about a penthouse four blocks down from Fleur, however he was pretty sure that Dan was half asleep. He squeezed the wheel tightly as he stopped at another light. Were things always like this for Dan, and if so was Tom always around for him, or had it always just been Dan? He could maybe see Addison; the only problem with that was he wasn’t close enough to always be there.

“Turn here.” Dan murmured.

“Didn’t think you were awake.” Phil commented as he turned the car.

“Well I’m not exactly asleep. I know how many stops there are from the flat to Fluer.” he added with a yawn.

Phil chuckled, “That’s a talent.”

“I know I’m extremely fucking talented.” Dan quipped.

Phil shook his head as he parked Dan’s car. “Could you imagine if I had let you drive yourself home. You would have tried to drive with your eyes closed.” he mused as he handed the keys back to Dan.

“What can I say, I live life on edge.” Dan said as he locked his car and walked inside. Phil followed close behind all the way to the lift. Of course, Dan’s flat was the entire two top floors. He had to contain his giggles as Dan struggled to unlock his door. It was just extremely amusing to think that the world’s most dangerous hacker was currently being compromised by a door.

“Shut up, don’t say anything.” Dan said as he finally got the door open and switched on the light.

“I didn’t say anything,” Phil said with a quiet giggle as he walked inside. The amount of  windows that lined all of the walls of the lower floor was astonishing. The illuminated city below was only a glimpse at the amount of money Dan had. As he walked further inside, he was quite surprised to see that Dan had more white and dark brown furniture as opposed to black and white. In fact, the little splashes of colorful rugs and art was such a tasteful touch. He would have never guessed that Dan had this good of an eye for interior design.

“Do you want anything?” Dan called from his kitchen, the sound of a plate smashing accompanying the end of his sentence.

“I’m good.” Phil responded as he walked over to Dan. He stopped momentarily to admire the white grand piano that stood in the corner of the common room. There was a vase of irises on top of it, as there were many different vases of different flowers scattered along the bottom floor.

“There’s some glass there.” Dan mumbled pointing in the general direction of the broken plate.

“Good observation.” Phil retorted.

“Stop I’m tired, let me be tragic.” Dan said as he filled up a glass of water.  

“Maybe you should go to bed now.” Phil suggested as he used his foot to sweep the broken glass into a neat pile to the side.

“I have to call Tom before I can do that,” Dan said turning off the light in the kitchen and walking out. He walked up the first set of stairs. The landing had a railing that overlooked the bottom floor. Here was Dan’s mini-office set up with multiple computers, shelves, and a wall covered in papers. He walked over to his desk and picked up a pill bottle and slid it into his pocket.

“I can call Tom for you. Just tell me what you need me to pass on.” Phil proposed, eyeing Dan’s pocket.

“You don’t have to do that. I already feel bad enough making you come out this late,” Dan sighed as he gathered a bunch of papers that were strewn out across his desk.

“It’s fine, honestly. You have me for a reason, you don’t have to do all of this work alone,” Phil said confidently.

Dan sighed and handed the papers to Phil, “Fine. I trust you.”

“Now go to sleep.” Phil said with a smile.

“Yeah okay Mum,” Dan said with a chuckle as he shuffled his way over to the second flight of stairs to where his room was.

“Do I have to tuck you in to make sure you don’t take those caffeine pills? Phil called from the floor below. He walked up the stairs to Dan, who was standing outside of his door with his head against the door.

“Take them.” Dan demanded as he stuck his hand out, the bottle resting in his palm.

“Yeah that’s what I thought. You’re not allowed to do anymore work. In fact I’m not leaving this room until you are in bed and asleep.” Phil said stubbornly.

“Fucking fine then.” Dan retorted as he swung his door open. He pulled off his shirt and threw it on the ground before walking to his en suite bathroom.”Have fun listening to me take a shit.” he added before slamming the door. Phil rolled his eyes; he was just a little cranky. He wandered around Dan’s room, stopping to look at his giant walk in closet. He sat down on Dan’s bed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He pulled out his cellphone and dialed Tom; he may as well get this out of the way.

“Two am phone call from Lester? Are you with Dan right now?” Tom answered tiredly.

“Oh so you do sleep, but Dan doesn’t?” Phil responded with a chuckle. “But yes I am. He made a breakthrough tonight and wanted to tell you. I’m currently forcing him to go to sleep so I’m just going to pass it on to you.”

“A breakthrough huh?” Tom asked curiously, sounding more awake.

“Yeah. Dan made all these connections to Chicago and a woman named Jade. He believes that our next move is flying to Chicago to attend something at the Crystal Gardens in Navy Pier, where she is supposed to be. He wants to meet and bring her a flower to pass onto Mother. Dan hasn’t explicitly stated it but I think he’s figured out that she is harboring the chip somewhere, and Jade knows where. I mean why else would her name have been the code. She’s the last piece to our conflict.” Phil explained.

“Interesting.” Tom commented. “So I’m booking a round trip flight to Chicago for the day after tomorrow, and a hotel room for maybe three days and two nights? An early morning flight would be good so that when you get there it’s day time, and you guys would have the rest of that Friday to chill and be rested for Saturday when the event is. Then you guys would fly back Sunday morning maybe?

“That sounds fine to me. It’s a formal event, but not black tie correct?” Phil asked.

“How did you know I was already up and at my computer?” Tom asked with a chuckle as he continued to type. “But yeah that’s correct.”

“Just a guess,” Phil asked, his eyes shifting to the bathroom door which had opened. Dan stood in the door frame, with only a towel on.

“You were being fucking serious?” Dan exclaimed. “I didn’t actually think you were going to stay in here.”

“I’ll step out for you to change. As if you have any shame anyways. You like it when people look at you.” Phil sassed as he stepped out of his room. “Lock this door and I will break it down.” he warned. Phil rolled his eyes and listened to Tom sigh.

“There is cough syrup in his fridge he uses to sleep sometimes. Just give him some of that; it’ll knock him out.” Tom advised.

“I think he’s medicated enough. I’m pretty sure he’s taken way over the amount of caffeine pills you’re supposed to. That’s why he’s all fucking edgy and cranky right now. Either that or they’re all wearing off.” Phil explained.

“Whatever, I’ll let you deal with him. You seem to be the only person who can control him. Let him know I have everything covered and that you guys will leave from Heathrow Thursday morning.”

“Sounds fair.” Phil responded. “Night Tom.”

“Good luck. Just give him the medicine he will be fine.” Tom proposed one last time before hanging up. Phil wasn’t going to do that; it wasn’t what Dan needed. What was going to make Dan sleep easy tonight was talking to someone. He sighed as he knocked lightly on the door and pushed it open. Dan was now dressed for bed and sitting in the middle of his bed with his laptop.

“I was just checking something. I’ll sleep I swear.” Dan said stammered as he typed away on his computer. Phil nodded and sat next to Dan on the bed. He looked Dan in the eyes and closed his laptop.

“I think you and I need a talk about some stuff.” Phil said.

Dan’s eyes narrowed, “Like what?”

“I don’t know, you’re the one with all the secrets,” Phil teased, immediately regretting his choice of words.

“Funny.” Dan huffed. “There’s absolutely nothing to talk about. Aside from the mundane things.”

“Like why there are so many flowers around your flat? They’re quite nice. I like the white lilies in your office area,” Phil commented.

“I don’t know, I’ve always liked flowers and gardening. I think it’s relaxing.” Dan confessed.

“Really?”

“Yes really.” Dan hissed defensively.

“Easy, I was just making a comment.” Phil mumbled. “Why are you so on edge?”

“I’m not on edge. Maybe you’re on edge; what do I have to be on edge for. I have everything under fucking control, everything is...just...fine.” Dan lied, as he ran his hands through his curly hair.

“Then why is your hand shaking?” Phil asked simply. Dan fell silent and bit his lip. He pushed his laptop away and brought his knees to his chest. Tom’s words from the other day were ringing in his head:

"Dan, I know you’re not particularly fond of partner work, but please just try to cooperate. He is the best, the only other person who is on your level, and can assure this mission be a success. So many people want you dead and are doing everything in their power to get ahead of you. Do not fall behind.You’re going soft Dan and if you don’t get it together you will be in trouble.”

“I don’t want to fail.” Dan confessed quietly. “If I fail, I will most likely die.”

“You mean failing to get the chip?” Phil asked.

Dan nodded, “And it’s not just that. Even if we do get the chip, we can still fail. Let’s say I get it and someone places a gun to my head, or if you get killed or something. Then what?  What if what I think I’m doing right is actually very wrong.”

“You’ve been planning this thing out so much. Every single last detail has been thought of by you. I’ve had no idea how you’d been doing this, but I see it’s been done without sleeping,”

“Phil you don’t get it. We could both die. Doesn’t that scare you; I could end our lives with one miscalculation ending everything we have accomplished in our lifetimes and for nothing. I know death is inevitable, but would you really want to bring upon yourself just because you’re not careful enough?”

“I do get it Dan, but I trust whatever you do. I’m not going to lie to you, I have my doubts and was starting to think that maybe I should do what I always do–what I think is best. That’s what I did down in Colombia and on many other missions. However, I’m not doing that this time. Whatever you think is best has to be right. I have never met anyone that is even as half as smart as you,” Phil responded.

“Then you obviously do not know yourself,” Dan countered.

Phil chuckled, “You give me too much credit Dan. I will say I know my way around weapons but I could never do any of things you’re doing.”

“With time you definitely could. You catch onto things so fucking fast it’s scary.” Dan said with a lighthearted chuckle. He sighed, “It’s kind of scary how much you trust me though. I’m the last person you should be trusting,”

“Well, I suppose I figured you wouldn’t have me do anything I didn’t actually need to do…right?” Phil asked, shivers going down his spine as he remembered Max.

“Of course not. Addison maybe, but you never. I’m just so stressed Phil, and I don’t know what to do,”

“Well for starters breathe,” Phil joked.

“Not helping.” Dan pouted.

“Dan listen to me. If we should die on this, we die together. That’s what partners do; they stick together no matter what. When one doubts themselves, the other if there to pick them up, now this is me picking you the fuck up.” Phil said earnestly.

“I love it when you swear,” Dan gushed.

“That’s why I said it flower boy.” Phil said with a giggle. “Now let’s see that ‘Sir Daniel Howell scowl’” Phil teased, nudging Dan.

“I hate you,” Dan said trying his hardest not to smile.

“No you don’t. You like me more than you will ever be willing to admit.” Phil joked. “I mean why else would you have picked me to go flirt with Max. You know I’m hot,” Phil added as began to get off the bed, only to be pulled back down by Dan.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Dan murmured.

“You’re stronger than you look.” Phil deadpanned back looking up at Dan.

“Shut up, maybe I’m not as strong as you but I’m not weak.” Dan sassed.

“Never said you were,”

“Ugh, what is the smug grin for. Stop.” Dan mumbled, blushing a bit.

“What you’re the one who’s blushing. I’m trying to go home and go to bed, unlike a certain someone...”

“I’ll kill you,”

“I think you meant kiss,” Phil challenged.  

“Fuck off,” Dan mumbled as he pushed Phil away with a slight blush. 

“Terrible. That act you put up is so convincing, but you’re a dork.” Phil joked. **  
**

“Stop,” Dan whined.

“Com’on you need a good laugh. Get over here,” Phil said wrapping his arms around Dan and pulling him closer. Dan could only giggle and try to wiggle away from Phil. He was unsuccessful, as he was pinned down by Phil. The two of them stopped giggling for a moment and looked at one another. It was during that unreality that Dan found himself connected with Phil, kissing for a hot three minutes.

If it could be explained, this is where Dan would be debriefing his thoughts but there were none. There was nothing else to say other than it was relaxing and it was good as hell.

“Damn Lester,” Dan giggled as he pulled away. **  
**

“Not too bad yourself. A little sloppy which I would have not expected from someone as precise as you,” Phil said with a smirk.

“You caught me off guard. It would have been so much better,” Dan grumbled.

“I’m sorry what was that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of you remembering just how much you like me.” Phil teased. 

Dan reddened more and pushed Phil off of his bed with as much force as possible. “Shut up, oh my god.”

“The dangerous Sir Howell sounds a lot like a teenage girl right now,” Phil snickered from the floor, earning him a pillow to the face. 

“Bye! Weren’t you supposed to be putting me to sleep or something. It’s almost four in the morning!” Dan exclaimed, throwing another pillow from his bed.

“Oh yeah. Do you feel tired yet?” Phil asked standing up.

“Yes, because you are fucking exhausting me right now.” Dan mumbled lying down on top of his duvet. 

Phil threw Dan his pillows, “You’re very welcome Sir.” 

“Honestly the worst,” Dan mumbled as he got under the duvet and rearranged his pillows. 

“You do look super tired now,” Phil commented as he stretched. 

“I am. Did Tom happen to tell you when we’re leaving?” Dan asked with a yawn.

“Thursday. I don’t have a time yet but I’m sure he’ll let us know,” Phil answered.

“What are you doing now?” Dan asked.

“Going home?” Phil replied.

“You, a pretty boy, taking the tube at four in the morning by yourself. Yeah sure you are. Just sleep in your pants I don’t care.” Dan said. “Just don’t go into the city and get mugged or something.”

“What? You saying I wouldn’t be able to handle a little fight?” Phil mumbled as he took off his jeans. 

“I don’t doubt that you would kick the person’s ass but why go through the trouble?” Dan argued. 

“True,” Phil said as he got into the other side of the bed. “You know what, for as much money as you have, I would have thought that your mattress would have been a lot softer. “

“Be quiet I’m actually trying to sleep, and I like a firm mattress.” Dan replied quietly.


	6. Breakthrough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan finally figures out the one thing he’s been missing during his quest.

A 7:45 am international flight. That meant that the two of them had to be at the airport by 4:45, since the recommended time to get to the airport before an international flight is three hours. That meant the two of them had to be up at two to get ready and make sure they were all packed and had not forgotten anything important. This was just an elaborate explanation for why Dan was in full zombie mode and why Phil was in half zombie mode and doing all the talking for them. The two of them did not go to sleep early to begin with, so having to be up after only two hours of sleep was absolutely killer.

"I hate air travel," Dan grumbled as he took a sip of his coffee. "This coffee sucks; why can't I spike it?"

"Quit whining for like ten minutes," Phil mumbled rubbing his temples. "We board super soon, and then you can sleep and get all of the drinks you want."

"But I don't want to get drunk so early and then feel all gross in Chicago," Dan pouted.

"You're such a child oh my god." Phil replied, shaking his head.

Phil couldn’t have been more happier when the person finally announced that it was time for them to board. First Class on British Airways straight into Chicago O’hare International Airport was awaiting him. It looked as though their flight was going to be on time too, which was a nice bonus. He was just thinking about putting on his headphones and tuning out Dan for the next eight hours, when it seemed as though he’d mellowed out.

The only thing better than boarding the plane, was finally leaving the terminal and taking off. Phil looked over at Dan, he was still awake but the redness of his eyes and generally morose countenance he had made him smile; he was so tired and silent. Dan was like an octagon; he was surprised as to how many sides there were to him. Well, Phil knew that everyone was more complex than what they make apparent, but Dan was a whole new example of that.

There was a certain comfort he was finding in the quiet cabin. That noise that you only hear on planes that is something like the sounding of air rushing by, or was that just sound the engines humming, Phil wasn’t sure but it was wonderful. Not to mention the extremely comfortable seats they were in–it made such a terrifying thought of being so high in the air relaxing. He was mostly just enjoying the way Dan was trying so hard to keep himself awake. His head would start to fall and he'd try his hardest to shake it off; it was so adorable.

"Just sleep." Phil teased quietly, as he watched Dan type.

"Shut up." Dan muttered back as he closed his laptop and slid it back into its case. "Only because I don't want to be dead in Chicago." he defended.

The rest of the flight was mostly a blur for Phil. He was in and out of sleep; not sure if he was still dreaming or awake. He distantly remembered lifting his head up from the side and seeing Dan fast asleep with his head on his shoulder, softly snoring. You would have thought that since they had an empty seat next to them, Dan would have left a seat in between the two of them, but nope. He stayed contently in the middle next to Phil.

"Hey Dan," Phil mumbled softly. "Dan, hey Dan, Dan," he continued, nudging Dan gently.

"Piss off pretty boy," Dan grumbled back.

"Good morning to you too flower boy, but we are landing in Chicago in like ten minutes."Phil retorted back.

"Oh," Dan sulked as he sat up properly.

"Have I really been asleep for the last six hours?" Dan asked, astonished that he'd gotten that much sleep. He usually woke up at least once or twice whenever he slept for long periods of time.

"Pretty much."

The Chicago airport was a nightmare. From walking from their terminal all the way to baggage claim, waiting for an eternity for their luggage, and people who had no idea how to simply get out of the way, it was just awful. Neither Dan nor Phil could have been happier when they were finally in their car to the hotel they were staying in downtown. As soon as they got to their room Dan threw another hissy fit.

Tom, being the little shit he was, had booked a king bed suite on purpose. Meaning, they would be sleeping together on one bed. Truthfully, neither of them had a problem with that. It was just an absolute must for Dan to complain about everything when he was tired.

After a nice long nap to recharge after their hectic morning, the pair eventually found themselves lounging on the couch. Phil was leaning against Dan with Dan’s laptop, trying to search things to do in Chicago. Dan had lazily draped his arm around him and was busy texting Tom and Addison.

"What are we doing now?" Dan asked.

“At this very moment, nothing. Once I figure out something we can do we won't be sitting around that’s for sure.” Phil replied, as he continued his search. "Okay." Phil said getting up.  “We may as well go see Chicago while we’re here." Phil said, heading towards the room.

"Really?” Dan questioned

"I mean why not? It’s barely past five and the evening is just beginning, so why shouldn’t we enjoy ourselves for a bit?”

"Sure," Dan said with a grin as he stood up. He followed Phil to the room and changed his shirt. Dan stood in front the mirror. He thought he looked pretty good.

"So what are we going to do?" Phil asked leaning against the door.

“Dinner?” Dan questioned.

“Chicago deep dish pizza.” they both said at the same time.

-

The two of them were sitting at a table eating pizza and talking. Again, Phil would have thought that Dan’s life would have been more fast paced. However, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like the chill feel of seeing Dan be Dan. Not Dan Howell, computer criminal mastermind, but the twenty-four year old with questionable life choices.

“Okay, tell me Dan, who is this “mother” person?” Phil asked.

“You mean Lady Roisin?” Dan replied, evading Phil’s question.

“Dan…” Phil reprimanded.

“Okay fine. Roisin is one of the first people I ever worked with when I was just starting out. Although I was skilled, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I don’t know, things were fine but then I wanted to branch out and do my own thing, and she didn’t like that. I went out and did it anyways, and she’s hated me since.” Dan explained.

“Full story Dan. I need the full story.” Phil responded.

“Okay fine, she was my girlfriend back when I was twenty. We did work together though all of that stuff is true. And no, when I said branch out that was not me breaking up with her. I did break up with her, and then continued to work with her for another year before saying goodbye and focusing all of my time on Fleur.” Dan added.

“So you were doing both at the time? Working on whatever she wanted and Fleur?”

“Yeah,” Dan said with a shrug. “It wasn’t a fun time, but you know.”

“Is that why you call yourself a ‘Sir’? Cause it was Lady and Sir?”

“What?”

“Your title? No offense but you don’t just get that title. You can only truly be a “Sir” when you’ve serviced the country and the Queen gives you title,”

Dan chuckled, “But aren’t I servicing the country?”

“No?”

“Think about it Phil, I’m super selfish so I use all of my hacking power to only better myself and for personal gain. I have no malicious intent nor am I trying to destroy the world with it. What if someone who actually was trying to make World War III happen had this kind of power? Now, take a look at me who is just trying to live lavishly and have a bit of power? I’m doing the world a favour, so I can rightfully call myself a Sir.” Dan said taking a nonchalant sip of his drink.

“I suppose you’re right,” Phil conceded.

“Both Roisin and I are like that in a way. Neither of us want the world destroyed, but we would sure like some power to sit on top of it, I guess.” Dan confessed with a shrug.

-

The next evening was all business. They’d spent the entire morning looking at all of their information and deciding on what they were going to be doing and what things they needed to target. It never failed to amaze Phil how fast Dan reasoned things out and devised plans. It seemed as though his confidence was impeccable. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to be that sure of yourself. That’s not to say that Phil didn’t have faith in his skills; he knew he was great at what he did. Dan just seemed like he never truly doubted himself, and if he did, it was very short lived until he had ruled out what was troubling him.

Phil tucked his shirt into his trousers and looked up into the mirror. “Stop being creepy.” Phil teased.

“I’m not being creepy; you’re the one being creepy,” Dan said defensively as he blushed slightly.

“Yeah, me looking into the mirror and seeing you staring at me totally isn’t creepy at all,” Phil said with a playful eyeroll.

“Shut up and hurry up. We don’t have all night.” Dan retorted back as he walked towards the exit.

“Yeah okay, but first tell me about how good my butt looks.” Phil joked as he grabbed his phone and room key and followed Dan out.

Once the two of them had left the hotel and made their way to Navy Pier, they headed straight for the Crystal Gardens at the end of the pier. Phil couldn’t help but smile at the illuminated ferris wheel, and all of the people who were just enjoying their night. Sure, Phil was aware that life went on normally for other people, but it was nice to actually see that. To just know that peril and danger wasn’t affecting everyone everywhere.

As they neared the Crystal Gardens Dan stopped walking. “You go on, I’ll meet you inside.”

“Okay.” Phil agreed skeptically.  

Dan fixed his blazer and cleared his throat. He looked over his shoulder before making his way away from the direction of the main ballroom. He hadn’t told Phil yet, but he was sure that Jade was not at the Crystal Gardens. If he had done this correctly, Jade was going to be aboard The Odyssey for her own private meeting. She had to be using the event going on at the Gardens as a cover. Sure, it was beyond shady of him to do this but it had to be done this way. To keep Phil occupied, he’d sent him on a task completely separate from the tasks related to Golden.

He strolled out onto the pier and to the porter. He showed him his ticket and boarded the boat, just minutes before it left dock for its two hour trip up and down the city shoreline. Dan smiled to himself as he pulled out the black tulip from his blazer. He smirked at it before placing it back in its hiding place; this was going to go perfectly.

Since the boat had many floors, he reasoned that she would not be in the open deck but rather on the lowest level in private. Dan walked down the stairs, and as he’d predicted there was a guard in front of the door.

“I’m sorry sir but this is a restricted area.” the guard said politely.

“Sure it is.” Dan scoffed as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He then pulled out his left hand and pointed his modified ring at the guy’s neck. A small dart was released from the stone and the guard crumbled to the ground without a sound. He stepped over the man and walked through the door. It appeared as though Jade had not come down to this level for her meeting yet. Dan smirked to himself as he sat down at the table in the middle and laid the tulip in the center of the table. He probably sat there for a good seven minutes before the door opened.

“You’re late.” Dan stated with a wicked grin.  

“Well, I suppose you can never be too early for death, now can we?” Jade mused with a sigh as she walked over to the table and took a seat. Her auburn hair was wrapped neatly in a bun and she wore a royal blue knee-length off the shoulder dress.

_Jade Nova. Co-owner of the Nova TV network. Brother is asshole Jack Nova. Relation to Mother: Unknown, but dangerous. Adept combat skills and is very perceptive. Be careful of what you say, how you say it, and any little mannerisms that will tip her off._

“How long is this going to take? The person I actually want to talk to will be here in twenty-minutes.” Jade asked impatiently.

“What's the rush we have two hours on this boat.” Dan chuckled. “And trust me, the wonderful gentleman you were supposed to meeting is back at the pier, cause, um, I got his ticket.” he added with a charming grin.

-

Meanwhile, Phil was circling the Crystal Gardens ballroom waiting for someone who had keys on them to cross his path. He swore he’d seen enough palm trees and foliage for one day. He was honestly surprised that Dan wasn’t here gushing about all of the plants right now. For whatever, reason Dan said that he needed to get the keys to one of the supply closets. Apparently, there was some sort of fake fused box that contained something that Dan wanted him to retrieve.

The keys were going to be on one of the main coordinators, so he just needed to figure out which one that would be. He knew his touch was light enough to get them away from the keyholder. The issue was he only had one shot. Dan had warned him of the strong possibility of being followed to the supply closet, so if he had the wrong set of keys and couldn’t open the door; that could be his life and Dan’s plan screwed in one move.

It was strange; his feet had guided to him to the right set of keys. One minute he was pretending to be admiring a flower bed, and the next thing he knew, he was sliding his index through a ring of only two keys. It seemed the most out of place as opposed to the other sets of keys that were packed to the brim with them.

“Jackpot.” Phil mumbled triumphantly as he slipped out of the main ballroom. Where the hell was he going to find a supply closet with a fake fuse box in one try. There was no way in hell he was going to go to every door and try the key; that would waste way too much time. Rather, he was going to look for the closest misplaced door and go from there. Honestly, Phil thought this was going to be more of a challenge, but almost immediately he spotted and out of place door, it was literally meters away from the entrance. He looked over his shoulder as he pushed the key into the lock and slipped inside as quickly as possible. It was a bit of tight squeeze but he easily found the green fuse box, with the fake wires coming out of it.

“Hope these work,” Phil said to himself, as he removed the cuff-links Tom had given him and attached them to the handle of the box. He activated them, setting off a small combustion, opening the door wide open for him. The only item inside was a ruby encrusted vase. Phil cocked his head to the side as he looked at it; was this a clue or something? Dan said he needed to retrieve whatever the item was, so maybe he’ll understand what this means. Phil took the vase, and made a break for the nearest exit, trying to be inconspicuous in the process.

-

“You’re killing me Howell,” Jade deadpanned as she looked at all of the folded up pieces of paper Dan has brought with him.

“You have to know what this means. Okay maybe not that one, but this, look at this bullshit.” Dan said was he shuffled the papers around, sliding the ones with the coordinates toward her.

“They’re coordinates. I would have thought that someone as adept as yourself would have been able to see that upon glance,”

“I know they’re fucking coordinates,” Dan hissed. “Problem is, they’re coordinates that don’t go anywhere? This place does not exist on planet Earth.”

“You sure about that?” Jade said with a giggle as she looked at them a second time.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean. Tell me.” Dan demanded. “I’ve have tried searching these coordinates three times and this place does not fucking exist. Not even as a secret location.”

Jade started to giggle before breaking out into full on laughter, “The mighty Sir Daniel Howell seriously cannot figure out Mother’s oldest trick in the book. Oh my lord, this is great. I mean she wants you to find her. Literally, she isn’t even fucking hiding that she wants you to go get her. You can’t even figure out the most obvious thing she’s given you.” Jade explained, doubling over.

Dan snatched the papers away from her and looked over the characters again. He let his eyes skim the paper left to right, up and down, down and up, and...right to fucking left. “They’re backwards. The coordinates are supposed to be read from right to left, because ‘Why would you do things wrong when you can do them right’.” Dan sighed, quoting Mother’s favorite thing to say. “I’m a fucking idiot, oh my god.”

“Yes you are.” Jade agreed. “You came all the way out here for something you could have figured out back in London. This is incredible. Thank you for making my night, Dan.”

“Shut up Jade.” Dan said pathetically as he folded all of his papers back up and put them back in his pockets.

“You know she wants to do business with you again, right?” Jade confessed.

“Why are you telling me her secrets?” Dan asked skeptically.

“You were going to find out eventually. May as well be the one to tell you; If it wasn’t for you taking that man’s ticket I would be betraying her right now.” Jade admitted. “Everyone hates Mother now; she’s at her most vulnerable. That’s why she’s messing with you; and yes she is in fact messing with you in case you hadn’t figured that out already.”

“As of late, I thought as much…” Dan mumbled.

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what she wants with you though. It seems that she is the only one who knows.” Jade added.

“I have a feeling I know what it is, and how she plans to draw me in. That is if you’re telling the truth and she is in fact trying to do business with me again.” Dan explained. “God, don’t you like want wine or something? How can you be completely sober right now. I’m so stressed,” Dan whined, letting his façade fall.

“Bottle of Pink Moscato?” she asked with a smirk, knowing Dan well enough.

“Oh my god, yes please,” Dan replied.

“And don’t worry. I’m telling you the truth. Mother is a bitch and if there’s anyone I’d gladly see taken down, it’s her, and watching you be the one to do it would be perfect.” she said as she got up to get the bottle and two glasses.

-

This was too good to be true. He’d gotten away just like that. No one followed him, no one stopping him or questioning him? What the hell was actually going on right now? He’d texted Dan several times and he hadn’t responded once. Now, he was walking along the pier with a Ruby encrusted vase? Something wasn’t adding up. Phil stopped walking along the pier and looked up suddenly. He’d fucked up.

It was too late now as he felt himself be pistol whipped across face before he could even react. The next thing he knew he was on the ground, his nose was stinging and bleeding profusely. Still, he got up and punched the man in the stomach as hard as he could. How could he have forgotten the number one rule of being a secret agent: never get cocky.

“Who are you? Who do you work for?” the man who had punched him demanded, punching Phil again in the jaw. So it looked like it was going to be a fist fight kind of night.

“None of your fucking business.” Phil literally spat, more blood flowing from his now cut lip. He swung as hard as he could on the man, hitting him twice in the process. He dodged one of the guys kicks and grabbed him by his shirt, slamming him as hard as he could into a pole. Phil could almost hear Dan yelling at him for this now, but this needed to be done.

The man wiggled himself free and tackled Phil to the ground, only able to get in three punches until Phil’s hands found his wrists and held them there tightly.

“Who are you and what do you want with this vase?” the man asked again.

“I told you, that’s strictly confidential.” Phil replied, kicking the man off of him as hard as he could. He was back on his feet within an instant and stepped on the man’s stomach, holding him to the ground. Not, that he was going to be getting up anytime soon. He pulled out his ray gun and pointed it at the man, finger dancing over the trigger.

“Just take it. Just take the goddamn thing. Please don’t kill me,” the man begged. “I won’t tell anyone. I’ll just say it was gone when I got here, just please don’t murder me.”

Phil brought his aim down and spat out more blood, “Get out of here and stick to that fucking alabi.” he ordered, wincing in pain. He watched as the man scrambled to his feet and limped away as fast as he could.

Where the hell was Dan. Although he claimed to have a pretty high pain tolerance his nose was killing him, and had yet to stop bleeding. Nor had his lip. He didn’t think the man had hit him that hard, however he could distinctly remember the sensation of metal hitting him; in other words the man had a few rings on. Phil licked his lips as he looked at his bloody hands. Just as he was about to find somewhere to clean himself up, a boat pulled into the pier. He thought the pier was closed to the public?

He gritted his teeth as he watched all of the people that were on the boat get off. Nothing could have made him angrier than when he saw Dan getting off the boat, laughing with someone. Phil was going to kill him; he was actually going to murder this man. He quickly whipped out his phone and sent Dan another text:

**To Dan:**

**Hey flower boy waiting for you near the entrance**

Phil slipped away to the entrance, hoping that maybe Dan would finally check his phone and meet him there. He stood there waiting for Dan, using the already blood soaked napkin to keep cleaning up the blood. Although it had slowed tremendously, things were still messy and he was starting to think that maybe he needed to go to the hospital.

About fifteen minutes later, Dan finally arrived at their meeting point. He looked around trying to find Phil, who was in the corner trying to get himself together. He had to be covered in bruises that Dan would notice, and there was no hiding the dried up blood.

“Phil?” Dan called still looking around, quietly praying that that text had in fact come from Phil and not someone trying to ambush him.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Phil demanded as he walked over to Dan, no longer caring about how bad he probably looked.

“Phil? What the hell happened!” Dan exclaimed, looking at him. Phil looked absolutely terrible; there was so much blood. This was supposed to be an easy mission; nothing bad was supposed to happen. Phil was only to be kept occupied not attacked.

“I got your fucking vase.” Phil responded, avoiding Dan’s question.

“Oh my god Phil,” Dan said keeping Phil’s head steady as he looked at his face. “Your nose…”

“Yes it kills. I think it might be broken, and I think my lip needs stitches. I can taste blood.” Phil added.

“We have to get you to the hospital right now.” Dan ordered, taking Phil’s hand and dragging him away. “You can tell me what happened later.”

-

One tiring visit to the emergency room later, Dan and Phil were finally back in the comfort of their hotel room. Phil had barely said anything to Dan, and intended to keep it that way until he’d fully calmed down. The only thing keeping him from punching Dan was the fact that he just simply did not have the energy to put up another fight.

Dan bit his lip awkwardly as Phil walked past him straight to the bathroom. He honestly felt like shit about this whole thing. How could he have messed this up so bad? He always had everything planned out to a T. He was so precise that there was almost never room for any error because it had always been accounted for.

“Fuck.” Dan whispered to himself, nervously running his hands through his hair. He’d messed up gotten Phil hurt in the process. Dan knew he shouldn’t have lied to Phil. He should have just found a way to get him on the boat with him and not after this personal item. The vase was something someone had stolen from him a couple of years back, and since he was going to be back in Chicago, he figured he may as well pick it up while he could. It was a selfish move, and he deserved every single punishment that was coming to him.

He sat himself down on one of the couches in the living room area of their suite. Barely five minutes later, he could feel tears running down his cheeks. Crying? Sir Daniel Howell does not cry; what the hell was he crying for? Deep down, Dan knew why but he couldn’t bring himself to make his quivering lips say it. It had nothing to do with his miscalculation itself, it had to do with the possible repercussions. The main one being death. What if whoever had attacked Phil had killed him then what? What was he supposed to do then? What if he had seriously risked Phil’s life over something so trivial? What the hell was wrong with him.

Dan used the back of his hand to wipe his tears. This needed to end now; he was losing it. His edge had been completely removed and now his work was getting sloppy. If Mother’s plan had been to drive him off the edge of the cliff of sanity, she’d accomplished her goal. Dan quickly tried to pull himself together when he heard the door to the bathroom open. He bit his lip when he heard Phil sigh.

“I wasn’t careful enough.” Phil stated simply, letting his head fall against the door frame.

“No, this is not your fault.” Dan corrected angrily as he walked over to Phil. “What happened to you tonight is because of me. I lied to you and I shouldn’t have. That’s not what partners do.” Dan explained getting progressively quieter.

“I was reckless,”

“And I got too cocky. Phil your nose is broken because of me. There are ten stitches in your lip because I didn’t bring you with me to meet with Jade,”

“You met with Jade?” Phil asked, sounding slightly hurt.

Dan nodded guiltily, “The chip is in London too.”

“I have a headache; I’m going to bed.” Phil responded angrily as he walked into their bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Dan sighed and went back to sit with his laptop at the small desk in the corner. He turned off all of the other lights except for the table lamp and go to work. He first figured out Mother’s location, and then went on to furthering secure his already well protected networks and sites. Time had gotten away from him because the next thing Dan knew it was after two am and he could barely keep his eyes open. He kept them fixed on the burning computer screen as he heard the bedroom door creak open quietly.

Phil yawned as he walked over to Dan’s desk where he was hunched over putting in a code. He leaned on his chair lazily, "You're still up?"

"I just need to finish this line," Dan replied sleepily.

“No, no, no,” Phil tutted as he took a closer look at Dan’s screen. “Those two lines right there are wrong; those are kill code lines, yet you’ve typed out firewall codes right there. I know because that’s the first thing you taught me and drilled into my head,” he added as he took a hold of the keyboard and started to fix the data for Dan.

“How does your nose feel?” Dan asked, with a yawn.

“It’s fine. Well, I just woke up to take more medicine.” Phil confessed as he continued to type.

“And your lip?"

“I don’t know you tell me?” Phil teased, making Dan smile a bit. “But don’t I’m sure that will actually hurt.”

“Come to bed with me?” Dan asked.

“You go on. I’m going to finish this real quickly for you and then I’ll join you.” Phil replied.

“How about we leave this all for later and go to bed together?”

“If you say so.” Phil agreed as he saved Dan’s progress and closed his laptop.

The two of them went into their room and got in bed. Although both of them were exhausted, sleep didn’t come easy. They laid there restless, thinking of all the things they still had yet to address about to today.

"Phil?" Dan questioned tiredly.

"Yeah?" Phil replied.

"I never apologized. I’m sorry about tonight, and I’m sorry for hastily dragging us to Chicago."

"I’m over it. It really doesn’t matter." Phil said turning around to face Dan.

“Really?”

“Yeah, we all make mistakes. I know you would never intentionally get me hurt, and you would be picking the option that puts me in the least amount of danger. It’s okay Dan.”

"Why do you trust me so much?" Dan thought outloud.

“Because, I have no reason not to.” Phil replied as he rested his head on Dan’s chest and wrapping his arms around him. He smiled at the contact and closed his eyes. The answer was good enough for Dan. He tightened his grip around Phil and let himself finally drift away.

-

The next evening Dan and Phil were back on a plane for another eight hour flight all the way back home. Their somewhat useless trip to Chicago was over and the operation had a speed. It seemed as though the whole course had changed completely. Maybe it was because everything had finally fallen into place.

There was a new drive. Dan had done enough standing around and circling the perimeter trying to figure out how the hell he was going to step into the ring of fire. It was go time and he did not care what happened. He had the upper hand, he was sure of it. Even if he didn’t have it completely, he had it enough to come out nothing but successful.

That is, if he was able to keep himself focused for the next three weeks. Tom had stopped im from being hasty and told him to sit back while he planned everything. Dan needed to keep busy and focused, and Tom was hoping Phil would be able to keep Dan occupied. He knew how Dan got when he was antsy. He would make more trouble by causing something to fall to shit just so that he could be the one to fix the problem. They did not have that kind of time, so he was hoping to keep Dan away from doing that.

For the next three weeks, Tom kept pushing Dan to go hang out with Phil, go clubbing with Phil, ask Phil to help him with this, maybe go to dinner. To Dan it seemed like Tom was just really trying to set them up. Dan didn't have a problem with that, he liked being close to Phil.

Phil had the same brain as him. Plus he was super interesting to talk to since he had all of those stories from his days back at MI6 and just about life in general. Plus he was great to look at. Tom had hooked him up with a hot partner and he was not going to lie about that. Since day one when they first met he'd known that, he just didn't anticipate it going anywhere.

Nevertheless you know how things are. One thing leads to another, casual flirting is not so casual, not that it had been casual since the whole Max thing, and before you know it's a couple of drinks and then it's his shirt, your pants, maybe some socks, a couple of belts, and well you get the picture, all on the floor.

Also your cellphones are on the ground and on silent. Neither see a missed call from Tom and a text saying things are go because they were busy attending to other things. Like how soft his hair is, and how squishy his ass is, and how he’s even better kisser than he thought because he wasn’t going full out before. No, they were obviously most focused on strictly Operation Golden, not making the bed squeak. Don’t worry it was all professional stuff to keep them on track.

-

 

_“Howell? You don’t need to worry about him too much. He has shit combat skills and honestly speaking, for a person as dangerous as he is, he is very weak. Where he will get you is with his words and his brain. Do not underestimate how smart and crafty is. Even if you think you’re ahead, you may very well be three steps behind,”_

-

“Mmm come here you,” Dan mumbled lighting a cigarette.

“No you don’t,” Phil replied taking the cigarette out of his mouth and putting it in the ash tray. He crawled onto the bed and sat on Dan’s thighs, smirking at Dan as he felt his hand rub over his bum before giving it a squeeze.

“Don’t kill my fun pretty boy. Also, that’s my white shirt you have on,” Dan commented as he undid the top button.

“I thought we were getting dressed,” Phil teased. He leaned forward and kissed Dan softly, his hand resting on the base of Dan’s jaw as tipped his chin up. “Remember,” Phil murmured, his lips ghosting Dan’s ear.

“You’re terrible for me,” Dan replied.

“And just what you need,” Phil retorted with a laugh.

-

_“He typically works alone, so if you run into him and he’s with someone no need to worry. Anyone else is pretty much disposable to him, so don’t even waste your time. Remember, time isn’t a thing we exactly have. He’s running to get his precious little chip and we’re sprinting to catch him red handed and get the other three from him. We want to corner him...make him submit even.”_

__ _“Sir Daniel Howell? You’re going to make him give in to you?” the guy asked incredulously._ __

_“It will be a lot easier than you think,” Roisin said with a smirk as she pulled out a tube of red lipstick._

-

Dan looked at himself in the mirror as he draped his tie around his neck. He sighed. All he could see was trepidation. He was still running the game all of his pieces were in line he just needed to keep moving carefully. In spite of this, there was this uneasiness within him. There was some factor he was neglecting to account for but he couldn’t place his finger on what it was.

At one point he thought it was Phil. Maybe he was going to double cross him and turn him in, but he quickly dismissed that thought. Phil had been way too loyal, and of recent, way too close for him to do that. Then he thought it might be due to the fact that the last chip had already been retrieved and was being shuffled from place to place, so he was never going to get his hands on it.

“You’re worried.” Phil said leaning in the doorframe of the bathroom.

“You could say that.”

“Just say you’re worried. There’s no need for you to keep up the whole unshatterable confidence thing with me anymore. I saw the way you freaked out when I broke my nose back in Chicago. I saw the way you almost regretted every single move you made that day. If my safety is what’s bothering you, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to worry. I am very skilled,”

Dan sighed and placed both hands on the counter. He turned to look at Phil, “Yes, I don’t doubt that you are very skilled and cunning like myself, and have way better combat skills but that’s not why I’m worried.

“Then why are you?”

“Phil, I usually work alone. You know that and so does everyone else. Because of this little sticky detail, everyone can plan my moves or rather they think they can. Now that I’m acting out of the ordinary and have acquired myself a partner, that makes me harder to track but so much more a threat to the entire stability of my operation. I need people to have confidence in my established patterns since you are my wild card. I have every intention on following what they think I would do, but I need you to be what they don’t account for. And that is something I cannot fuck up in my planning.”

“I feel like I still don’t really know what you’re trying to accomplish,” Phil said walking over to Dan. “I’m sorry I won’t be so reckless.”

“No, I need you to be reckless more than ever now.”

“Why?”

“Cause we’ve been dancing with a fox.”

-

_“So Howell...he doesn’t carry any weapon on him? Not a single one?” the guy asked skeptically._

_“Well, he does have one weapon he holds very dear to his heart. It is a black 9mm glock encrusted with pure gold detailing. The specific way this one was made is a one of it’s kind so you’ll know it’s his right away. Also, “SDH” is engraved on the side of it.”_

_“Isn’t that a bit flamboyant?”_

_“He always loved showcasing a bit of panache,” Roisin said with a fond smile. “He keeps it on his right or easy access since he is in fact a lefty._

-

“That reminds me,” Dan said as they were getting ready to leave the penthouse. He reached into his right suit coat pocket and pulled out the only real weapon he allowed himself to carry. “You carry this from now on.” he said.

“You’re giving me your glock?” Phil asked with surprise as Dan placed it in his hand.

 **  
“** I have a feeling, you’re going to need it more. Now, go get suited up. We have a chip to go get.” Dan said with a smirk.


	7. Bad Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackpot.

_There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald_

-

You know that moment when movies switch into ultra slow motion and it’s an instant close up of what’s coming across the screen, yeah Dan was having one of those moments right now. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he told Phil to suit up but it certainly wasn’t this: His motorcycle rounded the corner before coming to a stop. Off came Phil walking towards him, removing his helmet with the sexiest hair flip, his long legs in his sleek black pants and broad shoulder in equally as tight black shirt.

“Holy shit,” Dan mouthed to himself. 

“You ready to fuck shit up or what?” Phil asked with a grin as he readjusted his gloves.

“With you by my side, any day,” Dan responded cooly.

“I await your command. You tell me when and I’ll go in.” Phil said.

“Do good shit Lester. Don’t make me regret making you my partner,” Dan warned playfully.

“You gave me your gun, so let’s hope not.” Phil replied with a dark chuckle.

Dan gave one last wave to Phil before he rounded the corner. He could not believe he was seriously about to walk straight into the building the coordinates lead to. He was completely unarmed and praying to God that his words would not fail him now. Absolute cool and poise would be his savior tonight; she cannot have anything to see through.

Tom had put so much research into making sure Dan's plan was foolproof. An extensive blueprint of the whole building had been mapped out as to where Phil needed to get to and from direction he would be going in. On the other hand, Dan would be going to the front and to somewhere in the middle of the building where Roisin's office was. There could not be one slip of the tongue during Dan and Roisin's meeting. As far as Roisin was concerned, Dan was meeting her to come to an agreement and maybe become business partners once again. Knowing how Roisin worked she would be trying to strike some sort of a compromise. In other words, a compromise regarding the chip to get Dan.

No one is sure how Cohen of all people confirmed it, but Roisin did in fact have the fourth chip. She had it the entire time and was just trying to make Dan a little bit desperate so that she would be in a better position for negotiation with him. Problem is, she didn't account for Dan being extremely patient during the endeavor, or for him to have a person that would keep him that way.

Regardless of all the circumstances, Dan had the upper hand and there was no doubt about that. Not only in speaking skills but in technology, pure luck, speed, and strategy. Best part is half of those qualities mentioned were just in one person.

Dan took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky one last time. He put his game face on and walked inside of the office building. His stroll to the man sitting at the front desk was intimidating.

The guy looked up from his work, "Lady Roisin, Sir Howell is here to see you." the guy said into an intercom. "Right this way Sir." the man said as he got up from the desk to escort Dan there.

"Thank you very much." Dan replied with a charming smile. Now was to be the time the Dan Howell everyone thought him to be: ruthless, debonair, cunning, and well spoken.

The man opened the door for Dan and gestured for him to walk inside. Dan cringed at the maroon walls and white furniture with lime green accents. It was just as hideous as he remembered it to be.

"Daddy is that you?," a sickeningly sweet and familiar voice taunted as Dan walked into the office.  
  
"Please like Mother could forget," Dan responded.

"Aren't you excited to see me?" The lady commented as she turned to face Dan. Her ombré red dyed curly hair had not changed a bit. As for her green eyes, well they were still as evil as ever. It seemed as though she'd  acquired  a nice tan though.

"Travel recently?" Dan questioned as he sat down.

"Yes, I actually just came back from a trip to Jamaica," Roisin responded as he sat down in the chair across from him. "I figured I was tired of English weather and waned some sun."

"Can't blame you there," Dan said with a chuckle. "How many years has it been now?" Dan asked rubbing his ear. He was actually pressing his earrings to send a distress signal to Tom. Although he was not in any trouble now, it was going to allow Tom to start tracking his location wherever he went.

"It's been about four years since we last talked.

How have you been?" she asked.

"I've been better." Dan stated simply.

"That's a shame." she said trying to contain her grin.

"Yeah, I guess I've been running around a lot..." Dan mumbled.

"Sorry about that buttercup, but it brought you here to me didn't it?" Roisin questioned.

"Cut the shit Roisin. You've been trying to sabotage me this whole time."  
  
"I was just having a bit of fun," she said with a giggle.

Dan rolled his eyes and noticed his leg was starting to shake. Anxiety, not good. He needed to play her game until he could start his own. The cue was that twenty minutes after the distress signal Phil was allowed to go in. This was his kind of thing, so Dan could only imagine how much Phil was going to get a kick out of this.  
  
"What's wrong deary? she asked condescendingly. "You want to talk Business already? I thought we were just catching up right now. 

"You don't actually care." Dan responded, nothing detectable in his voice.

"That may be true, but I'm polite." Roisin said as she pushed all of her hair behind her back. "But no need to draw this out any longer right?"

"Of course not."

“Alright then.” she said with a nod. “Sage, we’re ready to begin.” Lady Roisin called.

“Sage? Who’s that–” Dan started before a black bag was thrown over his head, and he felt himself hit the floor.

-

About nine blocks away from the building Phil was sat in an alley awaiting his signal to go in. According to his timer, it should be in about two minutes. His hands had gone sweaty inside of his gloves, and he could feel his muscles starting to wake up. The adrenaline rush this whole thing was about to give him was going to be unreal.

“Black Cat you have green light. You are going to enter through the lower west side of the building.” Tom said through the earpiece he had in. 

“Sounds good to me.” Phil said as he flipped down the visor of his helmet.

“It appears that Dan is on the move but I have no idea why or where.” Tom added.

“Keep me posted on that.” Phil ordered as he started his motorcycle and drove towards the building.

“Will do. Good luck Lester.”

Phil drove to the back of the building. He tried not to focus on Tom’s mumbles as to what the hell Dan thought he was doing. He needed to focus and worry about what he was doing on his end. Dan always had a plan, even if it was separate from what was agreed on. All Phil needed to do was what he did best.

After parking his motorcycle and removing his helmet, Phil made his way towards getting inside. Just around the corner there were three guards stationed at the loading dock. It would be very easy for him to take all three of them out in one move. Phil reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cube, no larger than a set of dice. The little object contained a potent knockout gas. He threw the cube into the center of the group and waited for the sound of hissing and bodies hitting the ground before leaving his hiding place and jogging inside.

White. That’s all he could see and say about the inside. He had never seen a more sterile floor layout than in a hospital. Honestly, it was atrocious. Phil walked down the tiled floor until he reached the end of the hallway.

“Left.” Tom directed. Phil nodded and was met with a door. It was locked with a keypad but it was nothing that he couldn’t take care of. Phil typed in a series of ones and zeros to jam the signal before inputting four nines, resetting the door and unlocking it. Dan didn’t teach him that, but he sure made him faster at doing it.

He proceeded through the door cautious not to alert the person in front of him. He snuck all the way up behind them before wrapping his arm around the person’s neck, taking them down as quietly as he’d walked in. How it was possible that there were so few people patrolling the area leading up to where the chip was located was surprising to Phil. He thought security would be a lot tighter.  

Then again, he’d also spoken way too soon. Someone else must have seen him because just around the corner he found two guards waiting for him, guns up and ready to take him out.

“Okay, you found me. I surrender.” Phil said sarcastically as he put both of his hands up. He quickly brought them back down behind his back and pulled out two dart guns, shooting them at both of their necks. His aim was impeccable, and both guards fell instantly. Dan had this “Whatever you do, do not kill anyone” rule going on right now, so all of Phil’s weapons were designed to either stun, knock out or paralyze.

It did seem as though Phil needed to pick up the speed. His track was getting hot and it wouldn’t be too long before more people started coming after him.  Phil stepped over the two bodies, and jogged towards the last hallway before the holding area. Tom had vaguely mentioned that he wasn’t sure how the hell Phil was going to get in there because the room was bolted shut via metal doors, to which Phil just laughed and said he had it covered.

Unfortunately, another electric door stood in Phil’s way. Instead of getting techy with it, he just took out his ray gun and fired two shots at the receiver and watched as the door slid open. If there was anything he hated most, it was security door technology, what even did this do if it could be easily destroyed like that?

“Here you are.” Phil said with a chuckle as he reached the metal hatch. He reached into his back pocket and let out a proper laugh. Lube that can eat through any metal, yet reacts normally with skin; arguably the most ingenious thing Tom has ever invented. Phil squeezed out the entire bottle over the perimeter of the frame of the hatch. The metal sizzled and burned as it corroded.

“What’s your status on Dan?” Phil asked Tom as he dragged away the now removed metal frame and worked on loosening up the knob by kicking it.

“He hasn’t moved. He’s just barely twenty  meters from where he was to begin with. I don’t know what he’s up to, but he better not be doing anything fucking stupid.” Tom deadpanned.

-

Dan shifted all around in his seat, desperately trying to loosen the knots and break free. He was starting to sweat and was getting more and more drained as he continued. He eventually gave up, as all he had succeeded in doing was skinning his wrists and wearing himself out.

“Now tell me Howell, are you going to fucking cooperate or not.” Roisin asked as Sage tied Dan hands behind the chair he was in. Apparently, she had a henchman that Dan had not accounted for. For whatever reason unbeknownst to Dan, she had brought him into this windowless, dark room with a very dim light. He couldn’t believe she was really about to interrogate him, or rather in his case, torture him.

“We’ll see.” Dan said sassily. “Excuse me Sage I don’t think my wrists are tight enough. I’m into pain.” he added sarcastically.

“Good to hear.” Sage replied back as he backhanded Dan across the face. It was going to be one long night.

“I would’ve thought that a big guy like yourself would have hit harder than that,” Dan mocked, earning him a punch straight into the jaw. It had been way too long since he’d last been in this kind of a position.

“Let’s not beat around the bush Dan,” Roisin started as she circled the room. “You have three of the four chips correct?” she asked. Dan looked up at her with a defiant stare, determined not to say anything. Roisin personally went up to Dan and smacked him as hard as she could, leaving his cheek stinging afterwards. “Answer me.” she demanded.

Dan looked up at her and scoffed, “I always loved it when you dominated me Mother.”  

She punched Dan in the gut and walked back towards the wall. “So you do have three. I know you have three because I have the fourth, but I’m sure you worked that out weeks ago. You’re probably asking yourself why I’m telling you stuff you already know. Well, it’s because I’m trying to make sure we are on the same page again.” Roisin explained.

“And would you look at that, I just tore the page in half.” Dan responded, earning him another punch in the face from Sage. This time, the hit hurt like hell. His face was throbbing, and he could feel blood start to trickle from his nose.

“Cute,” Roisin spat. “Where was I, oh right. I’m just trying to bring the two of us back up to speed. As you have probably already figured out, I want all four chips for myself, but I’m well aware that you would rather die than part ways with your three.” Roisin finally stated.

Dan looked down at his shoes as he listened to her talk. He was trying to work out what to say next, and keep himself from being beaten to death. He could take a little pain, but he wasn’t sure how far she was willing to go to get him to say yes to anything.

“What you have nothing to say back to that Howell?” Roisin asked. “Shock him, Sage.” she ordered wickedly.

Dan’s head snapped up and the next thing he knew a jolt of electricity was sent through his side. “Motherfucker!” Dan exclaimed, trying to wiggle away. He received another shock albeit this one was slightly more powerful, causing him to twitch slightly.  

“Work with me Dan.” Roisin sing songed as she took off her stilettos heels. “My feet are starting to hurt from all of this walking. I hope you don’t mind.” she said with a giggle. “You’re not seriously going to die for those three chips now are you? All you have to do is hand them over to me, and yourself and this could be all cleared up. You would technically have all four, and you’d have me once again helping you do partner work. It must be lonely working all by yourself.” she said, using the back of her hand to stroke the side of Dan’s face. Her sweet smile turned into a scowl when Dan rolled his eyes. She took the stiletto that was still in her right hand and hit Dan with the heel, cutting his cheek in the process.

“I like working alone.” Dan grumbled.

Roisin pulled Dan by his hair and looked at his black eye. “But don’t you see where working alone has got you Dan? If you had been working with me you would already have all four chips.” she commented.

While Dan couldn’t argue that that wasn’t true, he was also positive that if they had been working together they wouldn’t even have one chip. Roisin was wicked, she was authoritative, but she did not have strategy.

“I highly doubt that.” Dan retorted, looking her dead in the eye. Roisin brought her knee up and slammed his head against it. “Why have Sage, if you’re going to beat me up personally?” Dan garbled as he tried to get the room to stop spinning. In response to his question, Sage punched him across the face two more times. He should have probably just kept his fucking mouth shut.

“I don’t like seeing you in pain Dan. I just want to strike up a compromise. You and me taking the world on together again, now doesn’t that sound like something you’d love to do?” she asked, getting right into Dan’s face.

"Not in a million years." Dan muttered through gritted teeth.

-

"Okay Tom; I'm in. Now what?" Phil asked as he reached the bottom of the ladder. The metal hatch door had led to some sort of a bunker deep beneath the ground.

"Duck." Tom ordered. Just as soon as Phil reacted a knife hit the wall barely inches from where his head was. "You have company."

"Yeah I can see that." Phil fired back as ran in the direction of where the knife came from. He was not one to pass up a fight, but considering his opponent was hiding in the shadows, he figured it wasn’t going to be difficult. Phil charged at the person only to have his first and second hit blocked. So maybe this was going to be more difficult than he’d anticipated.

The guard came at Phil  and he quickly deflected the attack. He was expecting a more daring move; a small grin appeared on Phil's face. Before the person could deflect his next move, Phil had taken a hold of their wrist and twisted it flipping them onto their back. This was his fighting tactic, get the person on the ground and use the time they were getting back on their feet to retake charge.

Phil's next offenses were better. Punched and kicked the person several times until their back hit the wall. He was just about to go in for another punch when the person ducked, causing him to make impact with a hard ass tiled wall. He didn't have any time to be in pain.

He reached into his pocket and took out Dan’s gun. He kissed the end of it before using the butt of it to hit the person in the back of the person as hard as he could in the back of their head. Fighting was exhausting.

"Company is out for nap. Where to now?" Phil asked eying the glass door.

"Through that door. The chip should be sitting in a chest, encased in a bulletproof glass. Work fast I've detected a slew of troops coming for your ass." Tom said.

"I'm on it." Phil replied as he walked inside. Just as Tom had described, in the center of the tiled white room was a diamond encrusted chest. Phil fished around for his laser cutter, and traced a circle. The glass circle fell forward with a thud. Phil walked up to the chest and pulled it out. It was as simple as taking something off a shelf; Not a single alarm or anything went off. He had successfully brought the chip into his possession, now it was time for him to get the fuck out of there.

-

Dan coughed up blood onto the floor. He had taken enough punches to gut for one day. Roisin and Sage had been relentless in getting him to agree to any of his terms. If it meant getting knocked unconscious, he would not give them anything to work with.

"Sage untie his hands, and hold him up. I'm going in for body shots." Roisin said angrily as she cracked her knuckles.

"Tell me where the fucking chips are." she practically screamed, punching Dan in the stomach. Dan swore felt a rib crack; it was so hard to breath without feeling a sharp pain in his side.

"Never," Dan stuttered as another wave of pain came over him.

"You are one stubborn little shit you know that right?" she said kneeing Dan in the stomach

"Make this easy Dan. This can all stop now if you agree. Just confess already." Roisin shouted.

"Fine..." Dan started. "I faked a couple of orgasms back in the day." he confessed.

"Drop him." Roisin ordered with frustration. Sage practically threw Dan onto the ground, where he crumbled unable to even think about moving. His whole fucking body was on fire. He used the back of his hand to wipe off some of the blood from his face. He was praying to God that Phil had been successful because he couldn't take much more of this. The already dark room was getting darker, and his vision was blurry because of how swollen his eye was. Not to mention the throbbing sensation in his head; he was concussed he was sure of it.

Just as Roisin lifted her foot to kick Dan once again, the door to the room they were in flew open.

"Lady Roisin we have a problem." one of her workers said.

-

Phil was running, no, sprinting. That’s what he was doing. Everything around him had become a blur of whites and greys. His lungs were on fire, telling him to stop, but his training was telling him otherwise.

This was a last minute plan change, but Tom had ordered him to place a bomb in the lower level that would destroy all of their tech and Intel. Now was time for his get away. He needed to be at least fifty feet away to be safe from the blow, out of the building to not be detected. and back on his motorcycle to get back to Tom. He had only five minutes to get that far and he was pretty sure he was down to only two.

Phil continued to run through the entanglement of hallways desperately searching for a way out. He felt like he had been running forever, but not long enough to find an exit of some sort. He ran another corner, down another long hallway, and round one more corner when he saw it; A way out. Phil darted his way out of the bright white of the basement and into the night. Sure he was out, but still not far enough away. He checked his watch again.

One minute. He could make it, right?

Phil ran as fast as he possibly could to his motorcycle and threw his helmet on. He started the engine and without a moment to spare he drove off into one of the many alleyways of London. His chest was heaving as he sped away. Just as he turned another corner he heard it; There was a loud crash followed by the sound of glass cascading down.

"Black cat successful." Phil huffed to Tom.

-

Dan laid on the ground where Roisin had left him, listening to the conversation Roisin and the worker were having. Just then there was a loud explosion beneath them.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded.

"The whole lower level has been destroyed." the worker said urgently, as the information came through to them through their earpiece.

"What? How the hell could you have let that happen?" Roisin asked, evidentially panicked.

"All files and all machines down there have been destroyed. Everything has been completely incinerated." the worker continued.

"Oh my god." Roisin said covering her mouth. She walked away from the worker and started to pace the room.

The worker then gasped, "The chest and chip are gone as well."

"What? That's not fucking possible. That is impossible that cannot be." she said, looking at Dan.

Dan lifted his head slowly and smirked up at her with his bloody lip, black eye and even bloodier nose. He didn't say a single word. Rather, he let his head fall back down, and let out a sigh of relief.


	8. Golden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All that glitters is gold.

_“Oscar Wilde once said there are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”_

-

Dan used his hand to block the rays of the sun. It was around six am and the rising sun was so bright compared to the dark room he'd been in. That and he possibly had a concussion from all of the beating he'd taken. His steps were unsteady as he trudged forward to his dream; to be golden. He’d spent all night unable to leave until they’d forgotten about him, and turned their attention to the missing chip. Roisin was so confused; considering they had Dan locked up there should have been no one else to steal the chip. That is by Roisin’s reasoning. She never once thought of the possibility of Dan having a partner, which is why the security on the floor was so low and unable to be mobilized quickly to take down Phil. He smiled weakly when he finally saw Phil in his view, holding the small diamond encrusted chest.

Phil watched as Dan stumbled towards him. He was just about to hand Dan the box when he collapsed on him; arms around his neck barely able to hold himself up. After a long night in Tom’s mobile HQ van, it was good to see Dan. Phil and Tom had spent all night in the van waiting to hear from Dan. Hours passed, and eventually the two of them ended up falling asleep. Tom assured him that Dan would be fine, and that there was nothing left to do but wait for Dan to contact him. Throughout the whole ordeal all Phil could think about was how unlike it was for Dan to work _this_ slow. When the faint hiss and crackle of Dan trying to get in touch with Tom broke through Phil’s sleep, he was wide awake and alert as he figured out where to meet Dan.

Although Dan was beyond exhausted that was not why he was clung onto Phil as he was now. No, it was the emotion. He'd gone through so much to make sure this entire ordeal played out in his favor. Even when he was most stressed he had the advantage. Everything he'd done, and the instructions he'd given Phil worked. He had everything he’d ever wanted barely centimeters away from tips of his fingers, yet all he could manage to do was cry on Phil.

“Flower boy.” Phil said endearingly as he hugged Dan’s back.

“Shut up,” Dan mumbled back in between sniffles. He pulled away and used his fingers to wipe away his tears. When Phil handed the box to him, he finally got a good hard look at Dan. It appeared as though he had just escaped a pretty hellish night.

Dan was completely speechless as Phil placed the box in his hands. This was it; this was fucking it. Never in a million years did he think he would be the person to hold all four chips. He still couldn’t tell anyone how he did it, but he had, and nothing felt greater. Of course, he hadn’t accomplished this all without a bit of help. If it wasn’t for Tom, he wouldn't have had confirmation of his speculations, advanced technology, and someone to book all of his rooms and tickets.

However, the true person to give credit to was the guy who he currently had his arm around as he supported him as they walked back to van. The black cat from the alleyway with the perfect aim, quick hands, and good drive. Dan viewed himself as the brains and strategy, while Phil was the go-getter, doing what he couldn’t, and doing it so stylishly.

All Dan could taste was success and dried blood, all he could feel was fulfillment and a pain in his ribs, all he was sure of was lethargy, and all he could think about indecision. To be golden was to be plundered from his ground, a comfortable perch where he knew every last detail, and be carted all around before becoming a ring, a complete circle. A golden ring if you will.

“Phil,” Dan started wearily as Tom drove off.

“Yeah Dan?” Phil replied.

“Thank you for everything.” he continued, letting his fingers run all along the box.

-

Four weeks had gone by since that pivotal day. Dan was finally back at his office at Fleur, staring at his blank computer monitor. Now what? He’d completed his dream; he was golden but where was he to go with all of this power? What was it meant to be channeled into? All four chips had been implanted in his computer and he hadn't done a single thing with it. The only thing he cared about was his bed, and how lucky he was to finally just relax with someone who genuinely cared about his well being and future success.

It was time for him to go back to being Sir Daniel Howell. Dan took a sip of his now cold coffee and sighed. Regression to the mean–everything eventually goes back to normal. At least for the most part he was sure it would.

“You wanted to see me Dan?” Phil asked as he slipped through the door, carrying a small black box.

“Don’t be formal pretty boy.” Dan teased as he pulled out the black folder, now labeled “Operation Golden” and set it out on his desk, watching as Phil took a seat. “I just need you to sign some papers.”

“Honestly Dan, you’re not a good liar.” Phil stated as he signed and initialed certain papers.

Dan sighed and his smile fell, “Tell me Phil, is this goodbye?” He’d come quite accustomed to working with a partner, and seeing the sheer advantage it gave him, he'd be stupid to give this up. Especially, working with someone like Phil. Was he really about to see the best thing that had ever happened to him leave just like that, now that his work was done?

“Well, I certainly do hope not. We have to start planning the future of Fleur,” Phil replied with a grin.

“So you don’t want to go back to MI6?” Dan said, trying to contain his smile.

“Of course not. I don’t get to blow up stuff on short notice nor do I own one of these over there.” Phil replied with a chuckle as he took out Dan’s gun from his trousers and waved it around. "Plus I think we have some unfinished business."

“You’re damn right about that,” Dan responded, with a nonchalant sip as he eyed Phil up.

“And it’s like I said, partners stick together no matter what.” Phil replied as he pressed the ‘closed’ stamp down onto the file and slid it back to Dan. “So until one of us dies, we stay together.”

“Deal.” Dan said, giving Phil a firm handshake.

“I just have one question," Phil started as he placed the sleek black box he was carrying on his desk. He removed the lid and pulled out the item inside. "Why is this tulip black with gold and silver?" Phil asked holding up the flower he'd just described out in front of Dan. Dan looked over at the flower and smirked as he held it between his fingers. He took a deep whiff of it and sighed, yeah, this was just what he needed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to anyone who has actually made it to this monster of a fic. This is the longest fic I have ever written, and I hope you enjoyed it, because I will never write anything this long ever again.


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